One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
Interpretation
The Vietnam War had a devastating impact on domestic programs aimed at improving American society.
In this quote, Martin Luther King, Jr. emphasizes the tragic consequences of the Vietnam War on social initiatives in the United States, often referred to as the Great Society. He suggests that the resources and attention diverted to the war effort resulted in the weakening and undermining of social programs intended to address poverty and inequality, highlighting a deep connection between foreign policy and domestic welfare.
In practice
In a speech about social justice, one might invoke this quote to highlight the distraction of war from domestic issues.
This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.
Music is the best consolation for a despaired man
We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
Israel... is one of the great outpost of democracy in the world
And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land
The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.
The American foreign policy trauma of the sixties and seventies was caused by applying valid principles to unsuitable conditions.
Politics is about the improvement of people's lives. It's about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our country and the world. Politics is about doing well for the people.
'Do you pray for the senators, Dr. Hale?' No, I look at the senators and I pray for the country.
Nicaragua dealt with the problem of terrorism in exactly the right way. It followed international law and treaty obligations. It collected evidence, brought the evidence to the highest existing tribunal, the International Court of Justice, and received a verdict - which, of course, the U.S. dismissed with contempt.
Left-wing zealots have often been prepared to ride roughshod over due process and basic considerations of fairness when they think they can get away with it. For them the ends always seems to justify the means. That is precisely how their predecessors came to create the gulag.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.