Horatio Nelson Quotes
When I came to explain to them the 'Nelson Touch', it was like an electric shock. Some shed tears, all approved - 'It was new - it was singular - it was simple!'.
Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris. The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, Vol. 7. Henry Colburn, 1846, p. 60.
The Emperor was writing to his son to explain the defeat of Japan. In what was a bit of revisionist history, the Emperor neglected to mention that with the exception of some of the incursions in China, Hirohito had personally approved every Japanese invasion including Pearl Harbor. Further, it was he who had approved the orders that Japanese troops should fight to the death rather than retreat or surrender.
Monroe was then Secretary of State and Jefferson an ex-President.
This practice credited to the Americans in WWII while the German’s waited for instructions, was not an American invention. It appears to have originated with one of the greatest of the Russian military leaders.
This quotation was an attack on President George W. Bush who had argued to a nation hostile about the Iraq War that the decision on whether to continue the war should be determined in large part by the report that was to be given by the commander of our forces In Iraq, General David Petraeus. He reported that he thought we should give the situation some more time and effort, and that was the policy decision. Clark and others thought this was not fair to Petraeus whose job it was not to make the policy but to implement it. It was perhaps the only time in history where a President abdicated a major war policy decision to a field officer. The President even argued to Congress that they should all wait for the General to return to Washington. He argued that he made the decision; he just wanted to hear the General’s recommendation. Most believed that he could have obtained that without the General returning to Washington to talk to Congress and the American people.
Changes were made and experienced preparedness professionals hired at the top, but with the change of the next administration the agency regressed backwards with a horseshow manager and attorney politically appointed as the head of the agency. After the FIASCO of FEMA’s performance with Hurricane Katrina, the head was fired from relief duties and then resigned.
The General refused. He had already achieved a strategic victory and it was only a matter of time when the Dutch would withdraw on their own as their supply lines were cut off and the populations wanted them out.
On military or foreign policy matters his view was that presidents ought not to rule anything in or out so that he/she can keep all the options open and not reduce future flexibility.
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB, also known simply as Admiral Nelson, was an English flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was wounded in combat, losing sight in one eye in Corsica at the age of 35, and most of one arm in the unsuccessful attempt to conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife when he was 38. He was fatally shot at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
