Robert Dallek Quotes

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Robert Dallek

Profession : Historian

Birth : May 16, 1934

The so-called second New Deal of 1935 - including the Works Progress Administration, Social Security and the Wagner Act legalizing union labor - represented an effort to meet the rising voices demanding a more aggressive government approach to the collapse of national prosperity.

Robert Dallek

The consequence of the Bay of Pigs failure wasn't an acceptance of Castro and his control of Cuba but, rather, a renewed determination to bring him down by stealth.

Robert Dallek

A national government using New Deal programs and the massive defense spending beginning with World War II and continuing through the Cold War was Johnson's vehicle for expanding the Southern economy and making it, as he hoped, one of the more prosperous regions of the country.

Robert Dallek

Flattery was one of Kissinger's principal tools in winning over Nixon, and a tool he employed shamelessly.

Robert Dallek

There are examples of ex-presidents speaking out. Jimmy Carter has not held back on a variety of issues. Harry Truman didn't.

Robert Dallek

Experience helped Richard Nixon, but it didn't save him, and it certainly wasn't a blanket endorsement. He blundered terribly in dealing with Vietnam.

Robert Dallek

Historians partial to Kennedy see matters differently from those partial to L.B.J. Vietnam has become a point of contention in defending and criticizing J.F.K.

Robert Dallek

Congress becomes the public voice of opposition.

Robert Dallek

There are limits on what a president can achieve or do, but the expectations are so great.

Robert Dallek

What makes war interesting for Americans is that we don't fight war on our soil, we don't have direct experience of it, so there's an openness about the meanings we give to it.

Robert Dallek

Governing is one thing, campaigning is another - and the latter becomes far more pronounced in an election-year State of the Union.

Robert Dallek

If nobody trusts you as president, then you can't get anything done.

Robert Dallek

A presidential candidate's great desire is to be seen as pragmatic, and they hope their maneuvering and shifting will be seen in pursuit of some higher purpose. It doesn't mean they are utterly insincere.

Robert Dallek

With television, you can make anyone look larger than life.

Robert Dallek

Eisenhower was quite supportive of Kennedy and Johnson in terms of foreign policy.

Robert Dallek

At the end of their first years, there are few people who would have predicted that Truman would be elected in 1948 or that Reagan would get a second term. It's always premature to make some kind of categorical judgment after the first year in office.

Robert Dallek

The 1890s was an intensely patriotic decade for Americans. It was a time of neo-imperialism, when the European powers and the United States were establishing their flags around the globe.

Robert Dallek

How many State of the Union addresses do people remember? They don't resonate that way.

Robert Dallek

The institution of the presidency was profoundly affected by Watergate.

Robert Dallek

Unity is Obama's theme.

Robert Dallek