January 5, 2015 (Monday)
On this day in 1949, President Truman labeled the objective of his administration, “A Fair Deal.” President Roosevelt’s administration had featured, “A New Deal.” Earlier, President Hoover had campaigned with the promise, “A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” Months into his presidency, however, the world plunged itself into “The Great Depression.”
Slogans are popular. They attempt to transform great ideas into pithy sayings. What were some of the memorable slogans, sayings, events or characterizations of presidents during the last century?
Theodore “T.R.” Roosevelt Jr. — “Speak softly and carry a big stick”
William Howard Taft — “Dollar Diplomacy”
Thomas Woodrow Wilson — “the world safe for democracy.”
Warren G. Harding — “return to normalcy”
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. — “he embodied the spirit and hopes of the middle class”
Herbert C. Hoover — “The business of America is business”
Franklin D. Roosevelt — “A New Deal”
Harry S. Truman — “A Fair Deal”
Dwight D. Eisenhower — coined the term, “military-industrial complex”
John F. Kennedy — “A new frontier”
Lyndon B. Johnson — “A Great Society”
Richard M. Nixon — “I’m not a crook”
Gerald R. Ford — “Our national nightmare is over”
Jimmy E. Carter, Jr. — “stagflation”
Ronald W. Reagan — “Reaganomics”
George H. W. Bush — “War on drugs” and “The Gulf War”
William J. Clinton — Impeached for perjury
George W. Bush — The Patriot Act
Barack H. Obama II — Obamacare
Could your life and work be summarized in a short phrase? What would it be? The stone which marks Wanda’s grave is inscribed with her name and mine, and below the names, a phrase, “Servants of the Lord.” I’m hoping that the Lord agrees with those words.
One of two “pithy” sayings of Jesus is promised to all of us: “Well done,” or “Depart from me.” The only ideas that matter, about who we are and what we have done in life, are those of the Lord Himself. What will He say to you?