Daniel K. Richter Quotes
People are always using the past for political purposes…. If they do, they should at least do their homework. l
This comment was triggered by a question about Sarah Palin’s attempt to use Paul Revere’s Ride to promote her political standing. See {623709} for Palin’s quotation upon which he commented.
Daniel K. Richter, Historian, WAMU Radio, June 9, 2011
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This was another of Palin’s gaffs reflecting on her shallow knowledge of American History. Paul Revere’s ride was for the purpose of warning Samuel Adams and John Hancock and the Americans along the way. It was not to warn the British of course. However, there was a grain of truth in her misstatement. Halfway on his ride, Revere was stopped by the British and questioned. The British were on their way to capture the Armory and its weapons. Revere did tell the British that as a result of his warning the Americans along the way, there would likely be 500 patriots in defense. So in a sense, Revere “warned” the British. This is another of example Palin’s shallow understanding of events and ideas for which she was notorious. See {623710} for a historians view. She was following the Freedom Trail in Massachusetts and commenting for the press at every opportunity. Ironically, Palin. In her own inimitable style, was loquacious on a subject she had not studied or prepared for.
Mary O’Grady is commenting on Venezuela as a perfect example of the failings of socialist policies in practice.
Dr. Dobson argued that religion had been a major tenet of the Founding Fathers in the creation of the Constitution. Opponents claim that the historical records shows that the writers of the Constitution overtly wanted to maintain a wall of separation between church and state. The only thing that both sides agree upon is that people should study history and their side would prevail.
Pershing, normally a very circumspect officer did not criticize politicians very often. But the Congress has just cut the military appropriations with several the more vocal members appealing to voters on the grounds of economy. At that time our military was woefully unprepared and did not have anything like the kind of support that it obtained from the beginning of world war two and onward.
The Presidential Campaigns of 2008 and 2012 shocked many Americans for the blatant lies that opponents of President Obama wrote and broadcast and then some of the retaliatory lies that Obama defenders responded with. However, this quotation from a 19th century political historian shows us that blatant lying in American politics is not at all new.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
Romney and his surrogates had more than usual difficulty with getting their facts right. Fact checking organizations would call them on this and in April of 2012, Romney ran a TV ad that was grossly wrong and misleading. When asked about the expose of the falsehood of the ad, Newhouse made this classic response. The reason this is an important quotation is that the statement drew much more critical attention than the false had or its classification as untrue did. Even President Obama made fun of it in his campaign speeches. See Martin Amis {631017} for a serious critique of the meaning of the quotation.
Daniel K. Richter is an American historian specializing in early American history, especially colonial North America and Native American history before 1800. He serves as Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania and is the Richard S. Dunn Director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies. His book, Facing East from Indian Country was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2002.
