Political Quotes

“half a century ago this year there were giants in the land. President Truman, followed by President Eisenhower, Senator Vandenberg in this body, others who first envisaged and passed the Marshall plan to secure economic freedom and prosperity in Western Europe and then to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to provide physical security behind which the nations of Western Europe could build free and prosperous societies. Those giants were followed by dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Members of this body who kept the faith--my predecessor, Scoop Jackson, from the State of Washington; Presidents down through and including Ronald Reagan and George Bush. And I come to the floor today astounded at opposition to this extension and to any other extension to free nations, so astounded that by comparison with those giants, I am reminded of Casius' description of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's great play, when we are asked to live up to his description of: . . . we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. Because of the vision of those men and those women and, for that matter, of the United States of America and our allies in Western Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization became the most successful single defense organization, security organization, in the history of the world.”