Political Quotes

“I rise today to commemorate an important but largely unheralded anniversary. Seventy years ago yesterday, President Harry Truman changed the design of the Presidential flag and seal. That moment, which is a small moment in the grand scope of American history, was nevertheless very symbolic. I would like to discuss it. First, some context on President Truman. Truman was a great wartime President. He fought bravely in World War I in France, and then he had to make very momentous decisions at the close of World War II. Some would argue, and I think properly, that the decision on whether to use atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki might have been the single most momentous decision ever made by a President. He wasn't even aware of the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic weapons program until FDR died in April of 1945 and within a very few months had to make the decision whether to use those weapons against Japan. Nobody would question or challenge whether Harry Truman was a softy. In fact, even after World War II, in March of 1947, America was war- weary, but he went to Congress and in an address to Congress said that we need to continue to provide military and economic support to nations that are battling against Soviet influence. In this case, it was the nations of Greece and Turkey.…”