There’s a quote that goes something like “when you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow”. I’ve seen it attributed to Lyndon Johnson, Chuck Colson, and John Wayne (which I doubt). My Google powers are proving useless today – does anyone know the actual source of this quote?
Thank you.
No help on the actual quote’s origin except I can help zoom in on a potential time frame unless it’s from literature and thus much older. I do recall hearing it (the OP quote) in the Vietnam era when another such quote (maybe paraphrased) was: “Come let us reason together – or we’ll burn down your village.”
Another was used as a recruiting slogan: “Join the Army (maybe Marines) and see the world. Meet interesting people…and kill them.”
It was also at the same rough time as this riddle:
What do you have when you hold two green fuzzy balls in your hand?
Kermit The Frog’s undivided attention. I’d wager the effect was based on the OP quote.
Isn’t that a line from Joker in Full Metal Jacket?
Johnson visited Viet Nam in late 1966. He gave a speech to the extent that we should be trying to win the hearts and minds of the populace.
While the actually saying “…by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow” sounds like Johnson, there has never been found any evidence that he originated it.
The earliest we’ve been able to find in print is 1967, a column by Jack Anderson, in which he talks about some Navy fliers who said that
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And I have no doubt the word “balls” was mispelled in that article as “throat.” 
I saw that! Joker in Apocalypse Now :smack: .
The Watergate source is Charles “Chuck” Colson.
In “All the Presidents Men” reference is made to the phrase being in a cartoon on Colson’s wall.
Which is supported/contradicted by this,
CMC fnord!
Might just be, but I saw posters with that slogan on them (probably produced by anti-war type) in real life. FMJ does sound right but it could as easily have been Platoon or Apocalypse Now for all I know. I was mainly trying to pin down the time the phrase probably comes from. And, as I said before, it might even be as old as a WWII (or earlier) film or book. It does at least sound military in origin.
I first saw something like “travel to exotic places, meet the natives…and kill them” on a Paul Krassner poster in The Realist, ca. 1962-1965, the earliest reference I can think of. I think he was parodying military recruitment posters which began about the same way.
And there’s a variation on Zeldar’s riddle, “What do you have if there’s a large green ball in each hand?”
The Jolly Green Giant right where you want him.
Just to clear up any confusion, I just found this cite in the last hour, using Newspaperarchive. Previously, the Colson connection was the earliest.
Thanks so much for the help – you guys are awesome. This was driving me crazy.
As far as i’m aware General Westmoreland said this quote… but i cannot use it in my school assessment as there is nothing on the internet proving this…
I don’t think that is the source. I am pretty sure I heard it long (like, ten years, or more) before that movie came out.
When you’ve got zombies by the balls, their hearts and BRAAAAAINS will follow.
Indeed: any statement which has actually made it onto the internet may be taken as possessing the last full measure of vindicated truth.
That was also a paraphrase of LBJ, who was fond of quoting Isaiah 1:18.
http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/faqs/Religion/religion_hm.asp
I agree. I think it was Westmoreland.
The OP’s quote is very (LB) Johnsonian, so that would make sense. Here’s a 1968 article about Westmoreland saying “win their hearts and minds,” which is a little different.
This is a quotation from the Holy Bible. Jesus spoke these words to the elders in the temple, and everyone was amazed at the wisdom of a boy who was just twelve years old…
Welcome, atcarlu. Could you provide a citation for us?
I saw it around 1977 on a Vietnam Veterans Against the War poster.
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