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TIME EXPIRED, The Biggest Moment in History - The Pure ...

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Good News Broadcast Number 010 – <strong>TIME</strong> <strong>EXPIRED</strong> – THE BIGGEST MOMENT IN HISTORYwith the knowledge that has been made known <strong>in</strong> this Writ<strong>in</strong>g, and you should come to a strongconclusion that what this man has stated is <strong>in</strong> truth ungodly and thereby unacceptable.One might th<strong>in</strong>k that everyth<strong>in</strong>g a president needs to know about honesty was learned <strong>in</strong>Sunday school. Yet, as <strong>in</strong> so many areas of leadership, this would be slightly mislead<strong>in</strong>g.To be sure, we as a people have memorialized presidents like George Wash<strong>in</strong>gton andAbraham L<strong>in</strong>coln who have been seen as leaders of candor and complete <strong>in</strong>tegrity. Inmodern times, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower stand out as men of character, as domany others who served them dur<strong>in</strong>g World War II like George Marshall. In his writ<strong>in</strong>gsabout Truman, historian David McCullough concluded that character is the s<strong>in</strong>gle mostimportant asset a president must have.Even dur<strong>in</strong>g the cynicism of the Watergate period, I saw personally how much trust wasstill the co<strong>in</strong> of the realm. As recounted by Jim Cannon <strong>in</strong> his memoirs of the period,Richard Nixon was <strong>in</strong> search of a new vice president after Spiro Agnew resigned <strong>in</strong>scandal. Nixon wanted John Connally as Agnew's successor and called <strong>in</strong> the two leadersof the Democratic Congress, Senator Mike Mansfield and Speaker Carl Albert, to run hischoice by them. <strong>The</strong>y both adamantly refused, argu<strong>in</strong>g that they didn't trust Connally. Well,who would you support, then, Nixon asked. Carl Albert suggested only one man, JerryFord, and Mansfield seconded the idea. “We gave Nixon no choice but Ford,” said Albertlater. And so it was that Nixon chose Ford -- a man universally trusted for his honesty.Ford's tenure was the shortest <strong>in</strong> the 20th century and his pardon of Nixon brought a stormof controversy, but <strong>in</strong> the rear view mirror of history, he looks better and better. A fewyears before he died, the John F. Kennedy Library presented him with its profile <strong>in</strong>courage award for the Nixon pardon. Introduc<strong>in</strong>g him at the Kennedy School, formerSenator Alan Simpson said, "If you have <strong>in</strong>tegrity <strong>in</strong> politics, noth<strong>in</strong>g else matters; if youdon't have <strong>in</strong>tegrity, noth<strong>in</strong>g else matters."Most of us would like to believe that, and most of the time we do. Yet candor compels torecall historical examples when that was not quite true. Th<strong>in</strong>k of the contrast <strong>in</strong> ourhistorical memories between Herbert Hoover and Frankl<strong>in</strong> Roosevelt. Hoover was acomplete boy scout -- a man famous for his many personal virtues -- but he went down asone of our worst presidents. By contrast, Roosevelt could be a deeply devious man whokept everyone guess<strong>in</strong>g about what he really meant or what he was really do<strong>in</strong>g. And thepress often went along with him: throughout his presidency, reporters and photographerscooperated with him as he misled the public <strong>in</strong>to believ<strong>in</strong>g that he had conquered polio andcould walk aga<strong>in</strong>. When war came, he expressed his approach very directly:"You know I am a juggler, and I never let my right hand know what my left hand does...I may have one policy for Europe and one diametrically opposite for North and SouthWritten By Floyd E. Taylor Page 226

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