OK, this is a little different than most of my usual blather. But I think it's really interesting. I put this together a while ago, and was trying to think of a way of putting a fun spin on it. I just can't!
All righty, so I was curious to compare the usage of the word "
fear" by different US presidents over the past century, so I looked up a bunch of quotes with the word
fear. It's rather revealing, I think.
FDR:
This is pre-eminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. 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. JFK:
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. GWB:
1 -
Everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear. 2 -
The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them. 3 -
The terrorists are fighting freedom with all their cunning and cruelty because freedom is their greatest fear - and they should be afraid, because freedom is on the march.