Truman Quotes

• I've reached a point in my life where my Truman Show boat has hit the painting.

  Kanye West

  Painting, Truman Show, Boat

  Song: Jimmy Kimmel Interview Pt. 1, 2013

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• President Roosevelt and President Truman and President Eisenhower had the same experience, they all made the effort to get along with the Russians. But every time, finally it failed. And the reason it failed was because the Communists are determined to destroy us, and regardless of what hand of friendship we may hold out or what arguments we may put up, the only thing that will make that decisive difference is the strength of the United States.

  John F. Kennedy

  Hands, Differences, Effort

  Speech by Senator John F. Kennedy, Democratic Rally, George Washington High School Stadium, Alexandria, VA, www.presidency.ucsb.edu. August 24, 1960.

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• Let me tell you, the first president to recognize the state of Israel was Harry Truman, a Democrat. And every president since, Democrat and Republican, have stood closely with Israel.

  Dick Durbin

  Israel, Harry Truman, President

  "Durbin Dodges Questions on No 'God,' 'Jerusalem' in Democratic Party Platform". Interview with Bret Baier, nation.foxnews.com. September 5, 2012.

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• When contemplating General Eisenhower winning the Presidential election, Truman said, Hell sit here, and hell say, Do this! Do that! And nothing will happen. Poor Ikeit wont be a bit like the Army. Hell find it very frustrating.

  Harry S. Truman

  Army, Winning, Presidential

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• I've worked with 10 presidents. It's a record. I worked with Republicans and Democrats. All of them when it came to Israel were, movingly, friendly. From Truman, who was the first to recognize Israel 11 minutes after the U.N. resolution, to Obama. When it comes to the major issues of security and strategy, we are together, completely.

  Shimon Peres

  Israel, Issues, Friendly

  "Q & A with Israel President Shimon Peres". The Washington Post Interview, www.washingtonpost.com. June 24, 2014.

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• [The rumor that David Cameron maybe once did this unspeakable thing with a pig's head] it was freakish and weird. It seemed such a coincidence that I couldn't quite process it. And then, as it sank in, I genuinely had the thought, "Am I living in a Truman Show sort of VR simulation designed to send me insane?"

  Charlie Brooker

  Pigs, Rumor, Insane

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• I'm a true reactionary. Like all patricians, I'd like to restore the original republic, which we lost 40 years ago when Harry Truman imposed the national security state on us, which has kept us at war, hot or cold, for almost half a century, and it's got us $4 trillion into debt.

  Gore Vidal

  War, Years, Harry Truman

  "Fresh Air Remembers Writer And Critic Gore Vidal". www.npr.org. August 2, 2012.

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• Truman is now seen as a near-great president because he put in place the containment doctrine boosted by the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan and NATO, which historians now see as having been at the center of American success in the cold war.

  Robert Dallek

  War, President, Doctrine

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• I am the heterosexual Truman Capote.

  Joseph Epstein

  Interview with Robert Birnbaum, www.identitytheory.com. August 31, 2003.

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• I never graduated from Iowa, but I was only there for two terms - Truman's and Eisenhower's.

  Alex Karras

  Inspirational, Football, Teenager

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• I suspect it's because Truman Democrats have been replaced by Gruber Democrats - self-styled elitists who feed lavishly at the public trough and think government should serve them, not the hoi polloi they disdain and deceive.

  Jack Kelly

  Thinking, Government, Self

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• That was the principle of reparations to which President Truman agreed at Potsdam. And the United States will not agree to the taking from Germany of greater reparations than was provided by the Potsdam Agreement.

  James F. Byrnes

  Agreement, President, Principles

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• My favorite monologue in the book is Kate Harrington's story of her relationship with Truman.

  George Plimpton

  Relationship, Book, Stories

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• Leo Crowley, Harry [Truman]'s Foreign Economic Administrator, tells Congressmen the theory...: 'If you create good governments in foreign countries, automatically you will have better markets for ourselves.' With that honeycunt staring you in the face, you'd forget your grammar too.

  E. L. Doctorow

  Country, Government, Harry Truman

  E.L. Doctorow (2010). “The Book of Daniel: A Novel”, p.234, Random House

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• If there had been any formidable body of cannibals in the country, Harry Truman would have promised to provide them with free missionaries fattened at the taxpayer's expense.

  H. L. Mencken

  Country, Harry Truman, Body

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• The only President who clearly died of overwork was Polk, and that was a long time ago. Hoover, who worked intensely and humorlessly as President, lived for more than thirty years after the White House; Truman, who worked intensely and gaily, lived for twenty

  Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

  Years, White, Long

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• The United States are a miracle: the division between two states is sometimes a river or a mountain, and sometimes it's a straight line. But nobody says, "That tree really belongs in South Carolina. I shan't do anything about it now, I'll get it back later." I shall go after I am here to London and after that to Potsdam, where Comrade Stalin, Mr Churchill and Harry Truman divided up Europe; and what we see now is the result of that. The Americans would have accepted it. But Europeans don't accept anything.

  Quentin Crisp

  Europe, Two, Rivers

  Source: davidbenson.webs.com

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• After World War II there were many Jews who remained in refugee camps...President Harry F. Truman called for the Harrison Commission to investigate the situation in the camps and it was a pretty gloomy report. There were very few Jews admitted into the United States.

  Noam Chomsky

  War, President, United States

  Source: thehumanist.com

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• Obama has been perhaps the most partisan President since Truman. He hasn't learned to be civil - note his insulting speech to Paul Ryan, who did us the courtesy of scoring a budget. The president has to talk to Republicans when it comes to the debt ceiling. He has reached the debt ceiling before anyone expected.

  Grover Norquist

  Insulting, President, Ceilings

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• The whole ecosystem of celebrity has broken down for writers. If you go back to the '50s, '60s, and '70s, writers were on TV a lot, and they were allowed to misbehave a lot. Truman Capote was a pop figure, but it wasn't until he went on David Susskind's show and had that extraordinary voice and manner that everyone could imitate, that he really took off as a figure. Norman Mailer and Vidal, the same thing. The bestselling writers now, there's no great animal energy with them.

  James Wolcott

  Animal, Broken, Energy

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• I was in Independence, Missouri when Johnson signed the Medicare bill, with Truman standing there. Truman had first proposed Medicare, but couldn't get it through.

  Helen Thomas

  Independence, Bills, Firsts

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• It was such a leap in my career when 'Truman Show' came along. It's always been a long process for me insofar as recognition goes, but that's OK because you appreciate it when it comes.

  Jim Carrey

  Careers, Long, Appreciate

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• Truman fired the popular Gen. Douglas MacArthur because he disobeyed orders in the Korean War. Johnson knew that he had reached the endgame in Vietnam when Gen. William Westmoreland, the top commander in Vietnam, requested 240,000 more troops in 1968 for the prolonged war that also could not be won.

  Helen Thomas

  War, Order, Troops

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• When you first saw 'The Truman Show,' did anyone else walk around for the next week not picking your nose just in case?

  Anna Kendrick

  Next Week, Noses, Saws

  Twitter post from Sep 18, 2012

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• Eisenhower was a pretty peace-oriented president. Truman was a pretty hawkish. I would argue, if we had more time, I would argue Truman had a lot to do with getting the Cold War going.

  Robert Scheer

  War, President, Arguing

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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