In a recent article about Obama, it was noted that while a gifted speaker, Obama hasn’t yet uttered a signature line for which he will always be remembered.
It got me to thinking. What are the most famous lines of the past presidents?
I’ll take a stab with the following:
Obama: Yep, like it said in the article, I can’t think of a full sentence quote that will endure the test of time.
G.W. Bush: “…and Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”
Clinton: Toss-up. I think Clinton has: “I feel your pain,” and “I did not inhale” but I am going to go with, “I did not have sex with that woman.”
G.H.W. Bush: “Read my lips: No new taxes.”
Reagan: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
Carter: Can’t think of a one.
Ford: I can’t quote it exactly but his line about no Soviet expansion into Afghanistan would have to be up there. I guess this doesn’t really count if you can’t give at least a rough estimation of an exact quote. Actually maybe his unconditional pardon of Nixon might be it but again I can’t come up with the exact verbiage.
Nixon: “The people have to know if their president is a crook. Well I am not a crook.”
LBJ: Can’t think of one.
Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you…”
Next one in line has to be FDR’s: “The only thing we have to fear…”
“We are not a collection of Red States and Blue States. We will forever be the United States of America”. Dunno if this counts since he wasn’t president at the time when he first said it in the 2004 DNC
Carter: I have lusted in my heart
Ford: Poland is not now nor ever will be under Soviet domination.
LBJ: I will not seek nor will I accept…
Ike: We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.
Truman: The buck stops here
I know a lot of people were really happy with this line from his second inaugural, so it may last a while: “The most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.” There weren’t any particularly brilliant lines in the speech where he announced the killing of bin Laden, but people are sure as hell going to remember that.
Ultimately I think you may need to let some time pass and see how Obama’s reputation shakes out. I doubt people heard these lines for the first time and thought ‘Oh, that sentence defines this guy.’ “Ask not what your country can do for you” comes from JFK’s inaugural address, so he had done essentially nothing as president before speaking those words. I’m sure plenty of people thought it was a good statement, but they didn’t know he was going to be dead in 2 1/2 years and that would be his most enduring utterance.
Not that it really changes your point, but Clinton’s actual statement was ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman.’ Maybe more importantly, you forgot the quote that may sum up the Clintonian, I don’t know, ethos, better than any other: “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
I don’t even know the whole phrase, but the word “malaise” is indelibly attached to Jimmy Carter because he used it in a speech. That’s a start.
Going way back, I’m having trouble coming up with many from before the twentieth century. Lincoln’s whole Gettysburg Address is a good contender, but the key will always be “Four Score and seven years ago…” Jefferson wasn’t president when he wrote “When in the course of human events” or “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” but that line is one of the most immortal in American history. I ought to be able to come up with one for Washington, Adams, and Madison, but I’ve got nothing. Adams did once exclaim to an aide “We’re at war, dammit! We’re going to have to offend somebody!” but unfortunately that one’s not so well known.
Actually, for Carter, I nominate a quote from the message he put aboard Voyager I: “We hope some day, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations.”
Kennedy’s most famous might be “Ask not…”, but only slightly behind that is the Moon speech. And I think that, centuries from now, it’s the one that just might last.
“I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies in a fight. But my friends, my goddamned friends, they’re the ones who keep me walking the floor at nights!” - Warren Harding
LBJ - “Because it’s not just Negroes, but really it’s all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. AND WE SHALL OVERCOME”