Polling Place Quotes
For a later version of this “advice” see Josh Billings {594820}
Henry Wheeler Shaw. Billings is not the originator of this adage, but seems to be recalling it. See William Porcher Miles {607439}
Harriman was the senior Democratic leader of the era. Every aspiring Democratic politician would make it his business to get to meet Harriman and try and get his endorsement. However, Carter was not a typical politician and when he decided to run for the Presidency, he had not even met many of the leading Democratic Party leaders. Harriman, a man of the old school, could not believe that anyone in the party who he did not know could possibly have the connections and the sophistication to win the presidency. However, Watergate had seared the American political soul and voters were not looking for a veteran, sophisticated politician. Nixon had been that.
World War I veterans had been promised bonuses for their service, but Congress and the President would not deliver. The economy was terrible and thousands of veterans came to Washington, set up a camp in Anacostia, and asked for help and their bonuses. Hoover had given orders to General Douglas MacArthur to remove the protesters from government buildings, but MacArthur, establishing a pattern that he would follow throughout his career, exceeded he orders and chased the protesters all the way back to their tent camp and then destroyed the camp. The Great Depression was raging and the protesters had no other place to live, and Hoover opposed any direct federal aid to the poor and needy making the Depression even worse. The public reaction was shock and anger. Hoover, however, demonstrating political character and integrity, took the responsibility and did not blame MacArthur. It was the nail in Hoover’s political coffin. Roosevelt easily won the election.
