Martin Quotes



King was speaking from a carefully prepared text which did not include the “I have a dream” passage. Jackson, sitting behind the speakers podium, in a loud stage whisper during a pause in King’s speech. King thought for a second or so, pushed is prepared speech aside, gripped both sides of the podium, and launched into what is now considered the iconic phrase of the March on Washington if not the entire civil rights movement, stimulated by the urging of the great singer.


In the closest call to murder in the Senate, Stuart Foote of Mississippi drew a pistol and aimed it at Benton in the heat of a debate:. Foote reconsidered and was overpowered on the Senate floor and was disarmed. There was no disciplinary action taken however. During slavery debates guns in the Congress were so common that Vice President Martin Van Buren once presided over the Senate for two weeks with a loaded pistol in each pocket.


As the president was reaching the end of his term, he was asked who he favored as his successor. It was Van Buren. When asked he was his second choice:


The newly independent South American nations all had terrible problems and although leaders like O’Higgins were democratic by instinct and desire, they had to use non democratic means to survive and keep the governments even functioning. The factions were more than just different political parties but private armies controlled by warlords. See {584187}.


Smith had written to most of the then likely Presidential candidates of both major parties asking for their position on the Mormons who were facing persecution wherever they went. None of the politicians would make and satisfactory commitments. Smith took Direct Action and became the only major religious official to have run for the Presidency of the United States until Pat Robertson tried and failed in 2000. Smith’s assassination shortly thereafter cut his run for the Presidency short before it made much headway and politically he had no chance to affect the race.