Akihito Quotes
Looking back at the past, together with deep remorse over the war, I pray that this tragedy of war will not be repeated and together with the people, express my deep condolences for those who fell in battle and in the ravages of war, and pray for world peace and the further prosperity of our country.
This statement was a subtle rebuke to then Japanese Prime Minister Abe who argued for an end to Japanese apologies for WWII. Unlike Germany where politicians led national efforts not only to apologize to the victims of German aggression and atrocities, Japan's politicians have been much less courageous and moral. As of this speech, for example, Japan not only had never apologized to the remaining living "comfort women" who the Japanese forced into sex-slaves for military "morale", or for many of the other even worse atrocities. Many Japanese, including politicians, even denied that these events had taken place and tried to rewrite history, not unlike Holocaust deniers. Abe, whose grandfather, was a member of the WWII Imperial War Cabinet that authorized all this militarism and aggression, has even publicly prayed at the tombs of some of the worst of the Japanese war criminals.
Akihito, Emperor of Japan, National Address on the 70th Anniversary of the Japanese Surrender in WWII, August 14, 2015
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The documentation of this quotation comes from a memorandum summarizing the meeting written by Presidential aide Harry Hopkins.
This is one of the earliest instances in which formal American foreign policy called for aggressively preventing other nations from war. This speech was audio recorded -- quite unusual for the time -- and can be heard to this day.
First woman elected to Congress. She voted against the declaration of war in WWI and was the only member of Congress to vote against war in WWII.
This is the quotation that came to define Chamberlain’s naivety for history and the icon of failed diplomacy. However to see the beginning of the sequence of events that would lead up to this statement, see {585940} when Chamberlain suggested the infamous meeting in Munich. There had been an interesting history to Chamberlain’s appeasement of Germany. 39 years earlier, Chamberlain’s father, then Britain’s Colonial Secretary, and advocated a natural alliance with Germany. See Joseph Chamberlain, 1836-1914: {585939}.
While Queen Mary was presenting medals to British soldiers during World War I, she said this to a soldier who had exclaimed “No more bloody wars for me”.
Lincoln was depressed when the Union had over 30,000 casualties in a two-week time.
Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, from 7 January 1989 until 30 April 2019, Heisei era. He succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne upon the death of his father, Emperor Showa (Hirohito). Upon his abdication due to his age and declining health, he became Emperor Emeritus. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Naruhito.
