Power of 50
Mr. President Said What? Surprising quips
from the past 50 years
By
Betsy
Towner
You remember the Great Society and a thousand points of light. You ask
not what your country can do for you. But can you match each president with
two of his lesser-known witticisms? [Take our quiz and find out]
1. “Our gro wing
softness, our
increasing lack of
physical fitness, is
a menace to our security.”
2. “I know I am
getting better at golf
because I am hitting
fewer spectators.”
3. “You can tell a
lot about a fellow’s
character by his
way of eating jelly
beans.”
4. “One lesson you’d better
learn if you want to be in
politics is that you never go
out on the golf course and
beat the president.”
5.“I’m the
president oftheUnited
States,andI’m not
going toeat any more
broccoli!”
e
6. “The ultimate test of
leadership is not the
polls you take, but the
risks you take.”
7. “Even Albert
Einstein reportedly
needed help on his
1040 form.”
8. “My esteem in
the country has gone
up … it’s very nice now
that when people
wave at me, they use
all their fingers.”
9. “Finishing second
in the Olympics gets you
silver. Finishing second in
politics gets you oblivion.”
11. “America did not
invent human rights. In a
very real sense, it’s the other
way around. Human rights
invented America.”
12. “My doctor
ordered me
to shut up,
which will make
every American
happy.”
r
13. “Words wound.
But as a veteran of 12
years in the United States
Senate, I happily attest
they do not kill.”
10. “The trouble
with Republicans
is that whenthey
get intotrouble,they
startacting like
cannibals.”
trouble
thRepubli
14.“Politicsis
likefootball.Ifyou
seedaylight,go
throughthehole.”
15. “The fact that my 15
minutes of fame has extended
a little longer than 15 minutes
is somewhat surprising
to me and completely
baffling to my wife.”
hf h m
nutesoffamehasex
18. “If this were a
dictatorship, it’d be a heck
of a lot easier, just so long
as I’m the dictator.”
f th s were a
db h k
19.“What’swrong
withbeingaboring
kindofguy?”
s
16.“Thesestories
about my intellectual
capacitydo getunder
myskinalittlebit.”
17. “It wasn’t my finest hour. It wasn’t even my finest
hour and a half.”
20.“What
Washington
needsisadult
supervision.”
A
John F.
Kennedy
B
Lyndon B.
Johnson
C
Richard M.
Nixon
D
Gerald
Ford
E
Jimmy
Carter
F
Ronald
Reagan
G
George H.
W. Bush
H
Bill
Clinton
I
George
W. Bush
J
Barack
Obama
