President

“However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind.” — Douglas MacArthur

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”— President Ronald Reagan

Abraham Lincoln won the presidency of a divided country. There were four major candidates in 1860, and Lincoln only narrowly received his electoral majority. Among his harshest critics was Edwin Stanton of Ohio who opposed Lincoln’s election, calling him among other things the “original gorilla.” Yet Lincoln asked Stanton to serve as Secretary of War, recognizing his organizational skills were greatly needed for the war effort. When Lincoln was assassinated, Stanton said, “There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen.”

President Calvin Coolidge was famously known as a man of few words. His nickname was “Silent Cal.” His wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, told the story of a young woman who sat next to her husband at a dinner party. She told Coolidge she had a bet with a friend that she could get at least three words of conversation from him. Without looking at her he quietly retorted, “You lose.” Coolidge understood very well the value of using only carefully considered words—and those being few in number.

After decades of service to his country in both war and peace, George Washington completed his second term as president. In his Farewell Address to the nation he wrote: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.”

George Washington’s father died when he was just eleven, and for a time the young Washington had his heart set on joining the British navy. However, his mother had some serious reservations about that path and eventually strongly urged him to reconsider. He listened to his mother, and rather than becoming the captain of a ship, he became Commander in Chief of the entire military forces of the United States of America.

Much of the course of our lives is determined by the input we get when making decisions and whether we heed wise counsel when we receive it.

Abraham Lincoln was well known for total abstinence from alcohol. According to one well known story, he was once offered a drink by a colonel in the military. Lincoln responded by telling the man that when his mother was on her deathbed, she had summoned him as a nine year old boy and asked for his promise that he would never take a drink. He then said, “I promised my mother that I never would, and up to this hour, I’ve kept this promise! Would you advise me to break that promise?”

“I’d rather be able to pray than be a great preacher; Jesus Christ never taught His disciples how to preach, but only how to pray.”—D. L. Moody

One day Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, came to him with a wrathful letter written to a Major-General who had accused him of favoritism. Stanton read Lincoln the letter which was full of sharp retorts and the President told him it was a good letter that the general deserved.

While Stanton, much gratified, was folding up the letter and putting it into its envelope, the President asked him, “What are you going to do with it now?”

“Why, send it, of course,” replied Stanton, looking blank.

“Don’t do it,” said Lincoln.

“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.”—Thomas Jefferson

Source: The Chautauquan, Volume 5, Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle

The story is told that Andrew Jackson’s boyhood friends just couldn’t understand how he became a famous general and then the President of the United States. They knew of other men who had greater talent but who never succeeded. One of Jackson’s friends said, “Why, Jim Brown, who lived right down the pike from Jackson, was not only smarter but he could throw Andy three times out of four in a wrestling match. But look where Andy is now.”

Another friend responded, “How did there happen to be a fourth time? Didn’t they usually say three times and out?”

“Praying mothers are America’s greatest assets.”—Theodore Roosevelt

“A mother’s lap is the best place from which to launch a life.”—Sarah Hupp

“She’s someone who will listen to your problems until you are bored with them.”—Ellen Goodman

“No one is poor who had a godly mother.”—Abraham Lincoln

“Together is the most beautiful word in the dictionary outside of the word mother.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson (when speaking about the benefits of unity)

Abraham Lincoln’s casket was opened in 1901 because it was feared that his body was not there. Christ’s tomb was opened to prove He is not there.

Source: Life Magazine, February 15, 1963

Roger Babson, an American historian, was visiting the president of Argentina about one hundred years ago when the president said to him: “You are a student of history, Will you please tell me why it is that South America, with her unlimited resources, and having been settled earlier than North America, has nevertheless made much slower progress in civilization and material prosperity?”

Mr. Babson threw the question back upon the president by saying, “Mr. President, you evidently have studied this question yourself, and I would be interested to know your answer to it.

“A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father’s shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father’s shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most.

During the Civil War someone reported to Abraham Lincoln that Edwin Stanton, one of the President’s cabinet members, had referred to him as a fool. Mr. Lincoln replied, “Well, I must check into that, for I have found that he is usually correct in his judgments.”

Source: My Favorite Illustrations, H. H. Hobbs

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Dwight Morrow, the father of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, once held a dinner party to which Calvin Coolidge had been invited. After Coolidge left, Morrow told the remaining guests that Coolidge would make a good president. The others disagreed. They felt Coolidge was too quiet, that he lacked color and personality. No one would like him, they said. Anne, then age six, spoke up: “I like him.” Then she displayed a finger with a small bandage around it. “He was the only one at the party who asked about my sore finger.”

“And that’s why he would make a good president,” added Morrow.

President Wilson once received a call in the middle of the night from a civil servant who informed him that one of his appointees had just died.

The caller said, “While I’m sure we are all saddened by this news, I would like to know if I can take his place.” There was a pause at the other end of the line before the president replied, “It’s all right with me, if it’s all right with the undertaker.”

Source: Business Wit & Wisdom, Richard S. Zera

President Lincoln had an early political rival named Edwin Stanton. He called Lincoln the original gorilla. When Lincoln was elected President he chose Stanton to be his secretary of war because he believed he was the best man for the job. At Lincoln’s funeral Stanton said, “There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen.”

President Lincoln had learned not to take insults personally.

“Let my heart gracious God, be so effected with Your glory and majesty, that I may fulfill these weighty duties which You have required of me. I have called upon You to pardon me of my sins. Thank You for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, offered on the cross for me. You gave Your Son to die for me and have given me assurance of salvation.”—George Washington’s Diary

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”—Abraham Lincoln

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”—Abraham Lincoln

“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”—Theodore Roosevelt