Inspirational leadership
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
— Roosevelt on the Great Depression, first inaugural address, March 4, 1933
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…
— Churchill on World War II, speech in the House of Commons, June 4, 1940
If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down.
— George W. Bush on the economy, according to NYT, Sep 25, 2008
(It’s Jeff Matthews’ juxtaposition, I just spiffed up the references.)
(And okay, FDR and Churchill were making speeches and Bush was not. Still.)