slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Calvin Coolidge...

For a fellow nicknamed Silent Cal, Calvin Coolidge had a sly, dry sense of humor. There’s the famous exchange he had with a hostess at a gathering:

Hostess: "You must talk to me, Mr. Coolidge. I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you."

Coolidge: "You lose."

He once wrote to his father, who had given him a puppy as a gift, "Your dog is growing well. She has bitten the iceman, the milkman, and the grocery man. It is good to have some way to get even with them for the high prices they charge for everything." Asked by a reporter if he had any hobbies, Cal replied, “I hold office.” A notorious napper, he took daily two-hour snoozes. Upon waking, he would ask his servant, “Is the country still there?”

Never reticent to wear funny hats or costumes, Coolidge’s self-deprecating humor endeared him to the country, and had he run for a second term, he would almost certainly have won. His winning philosophy? “Four-fifths of all our troubles would disappear if we would only sit down and keep still.”

During the 1924 p**********l campaign he was asked, “Have you any statement on the campaign?”

“No,” said Coolidge.

“Can you tell us something about the world situation?”

“No."

“Any information about Prohibition?”

“No."

As the reporters left the room, Coolidge called out, “Now remember—don’t quote me.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt...

Perhaps it was the pain he suffered due to the polio that paralyzed his legs, but Franklin Roosevelt’s sense of humor placed him in the upper echelon of White House funny guys. Wisely, he used his wit to further the policies he championed during the Great Depression. His self-deprecation endeared FDR to the country and helped win support for his New Deal. When Roosevelt became president vin 1932, the country was in the depths of economic ruin. After sending legislation to the Congress to amend the Volstead Act and thus end Prohibition, Roosevelt stated, “I think this would be a good time for a beer.”

His sense of humor was used to both humanize himself and to encourage Americans to laugh in the face of despair. During one of his Fireside Chats, a series of radio broadcasts he delivered to the American people, FDR told the story of a Maine fisherman with a hearing problem. Told to cut back on his drinking, he ignored the advice. When asked why he would not stop drinking, the fisherman replied, "I liked what I was drinking so much better than what I was hearing [from FDR] that I just kept on drinking." If attention was being drawn to an unwanted topic or to his own disability, FDR often used humor to change the subject. When asked by a reporter what an upcoming Fireside Chat was going to be about, he replied, “About 22 minutes.” As Roosevelt once said, “The overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities, a sense of humor and a sense of proportion.”

5. Ronald Reagan...

Politics aside, the Gipper was a naturally funny guy. After being shot in the chest and nearly assassinated, he said to his wife Nancy, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” While being wheeled into the operating room, Reagan still had time to fire off a joke to his doctors: “I hope you’re all Republicans.” Reagan was known to return speeches to his speechwriters with jokes added in. His sense of humor was ever-present and he could call on it in almost any situation. At one press conference:

Reporter Sam Donaldson: "Mr. President, in talking about the continuing recession tonight, you have blamed mistakes in the past. You have blamed the Congress. Does any of the blame belong to you?"

Reagan: "Yes, because for many years I was a Democrat!"

Reagan wasn’t even beyond ribbing Queen Elizabeth. He was horseback riding with her in 1982, according to former Secretary of State James Baker, when the Queen’s horse let out a loud fart. The Queen apologized to Reagan, who shot back, “I’m glad you told me, or I would have thought it was the horse.”

lindajoy Loc: right here with you....

You learn something new each day!!! Although I did know of Reagan I did not know of Coolidge or FDR...
Thank You~~

Coos Bay Tom Loc: coos bay oregon

We could use a Calvin Coolidge again--lol

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

I'm surprised my 3 thread posts on p**********l quotes and anecdotes have received only your one comment.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Yep.

lindajoy Loc: right here with you....

Must admit so am I...I need to check on the other two tho, don’t remember reading them??

This was very interesting to me seeing them from another character trait...

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Thomas Jefferson Stories and Quotes

One day Jefferson was traveling. He went on horseback. That was a common way of traveling at that time. He stopped at a country tavern. At this tavern he talked with a stranger who was staying there. After a while Jefferson rode away. Then the stranger said to the landlord, “Who is that man? He knew so much about law, that I was sure he was a lawyer. But when we talked about medicine, he knew so much about that, that I thought he must be a doctor. And after a while he seemed to know so much about religion, that I was sure he was a minister. Who is he?”

The stranger was very much surprised to hear that the man he had talked with was Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson had very bad posture and had a tendency to wear clothes that many felt were unfitting for a man of his stature. He usually wore a worn brown coat, red waistcoat, corduroy breeches, wool hose, and a pair of carpet slippers without heels. He almost sparked an international incident when he accidentally insulted the British ambassador by received him while wearing informal clothes. He also started the p**********l tradition of shaking hands with visitors instead of bowing.”

John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the White House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: “This is perhaps an assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

All right. Listen to me. This fellow they’ve nominated claims he’s the new Thomas Jefferson. Well, let me tell you something. I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of mine. And, governor, you’re no Thomas Jefferson. -Ronald Reagan, August 17, 1992)

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever. - Thomas Jefferson