Margaret Carlson Quotes
The Greatest Generation got to save old tires, dig a Victory Garden and forgo sugar. The Richest Generation is being asked to shop.
Carlson, Margaret. "Patriotism at the Mall." Time, 29 Oct. 2001.
This quotation, over half a century later, was cited to show the contrast in the requested role of the American public during the War on Terror / Iraq War and in WWII. Every citizen in WWII had an important role involving personal and family effort and sacrifice, while the George W. Bush administration in contrast did not initiate oil utilization conservation, or ask the public to buy war bonds, pay additional taxes. Instead Americans were told to travel more and spend money.
FDR’s attempt to cap WWII income with any excess going to pay for the war failed as the wealthy in the country pulled out “all the stops” to defeat the proposal. Roosevelt was able, however, to get a maximum tax bracket of 88 percent on all income over $200,000 which was less onerous to the very rich but still terrible. They could not defeat that proposal.
What is particularly interesting about this quotation is that it shows the role that vengeance played in the support of the war effort. Revenge is a “baser” motive than making the world safe for democracy or preserving freedom or stopping dictators. Yet the political and military leadership did not shy away from revenge as a war aim. Contrast this with later wars. Arguably the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor created a different dimension than existed in the Korean or Vietnam wars. Yet in the War on Terror, the attack of 9-11, created a situation like Pearl Harbor did. Yet President Bush and other political and military leaders had a definite policy of never acknowledging that revenge was a factor, despite the fact that many Americans openly saw this as a major war aim.
Assigned to the Treasury Department to create war bond posters
This statement is perhaps the greatest and most eloquent description of the United States exceptionalism and its behavior in WWII. Such a statement could only come from a non-American.
This was the address where FDR used the “arsenal of democracy” phrase which became so famous. A similar phrase was used in May by Robert E. Sherwood--{624748}. Then Jean Monnet began to use the exact phrase in Mid 1940--{624746}. He almost certainly had read Sherwood’s earlier, similar phrase. However so had Presidential Aid Harry Hopkins who thought that it would be a good phrase for President Roosevelt to use to “brand” the activity of the United States. So diplomatically, Monnet was asked not to use the phrase any more, and he acceded to the request. At the end of the year, FDR gave his address with this quotation.
Margaret Carlson is an American journalist, political pundit, and an opinion columnist for Bloomberg News. She is known for being the first female columnist for Time magazine. She was a regular panelist for CNN's Capital Gang from 1992 until its cancellation in 2005.
