Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams Quotes
Even my countenance was watched at the Senate during Mr. Pinkney’s speech as I was afterwards informed by some of the gentlemen.
At the time, her husband, John Quincy Adams, was a potential candidate for President and his position on all matters was very influential. The Senate had been polarized on the slavery issue and the Missouri Compromise was being debated. Mrs. Adams was well educated and very interested in the substance of political debate, especially involving slavery to which she was adamantly opposed. Even then the body language of a spouse was watched carefully.
Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 1775-1852, First Lady (John Quincy Adams), Quoted in Cokie Roberts, Ladies of Liberty, 2008
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Some scholars credit this quote earlier to Comedian Will Rogers.
There was rationing during World War II, and California Senator Sheridan Downey introduced a resolution calling on Senators to accept rationing restrictions and not use their position to evade the restrictions:
The statement was somewhat over the top considering that the Senate at the time contained some of the most decorated of American war heroes, while Mr. Bush’s involvement in the defense of the people was a short training stint in the Texas Air National Guard.
This was a private gathering of key members of the Conservative party.
Despite having passed the House and a majority of the Senate favoring McCain’s bill, a filibuster was led by a few holdouts from his own party. Patiently, McCain assembled sufficient Senate support to break the filibuster.
Ryan told the national audience that President Obama had come to a factory in his district that as rumored to be closed. Obama had told the workers that the Federal government could assist and keep the factory open for many years. Then as Ryan explained, the factory closed the following year. He gave this as an example of Obama not keeping his word. However what Ryan did not say was that Obama had made the speech at the factory when he was a candidate for the Presidency, and then the factory was closed while George W. Bush was President and by the time he took office, the closure was done and the factory machines gone. And when Obama took office, our national economy was within days of complete bank and finance collapse. Obama saved most of the banks and then the American automobile industry. To suggest that Obama could have or should have done something for the factory that closed was shockingly misleading. It would have been a minor issue if some party hack had lied and made the same accusation. But this was the Vice Presidential Candidate whose acceptance speech was assumedly vetted by the Presidential Candidate’s staff. That is why the quotation was so memorable.
Louisa Catherine Adams was the First Lady of the United States from 1825 to 1829 during the presidency of John Quincy Adams. Born in London, she was the first First Lady to be born outside the United States or the preceding Thirteen Colonies—a distinction that would not be shared until 192 years later by Melania Trump.
