#am

A man writing a letter is a man in the act of thinking, and it was an exercise Reagan obviously enjoyed. After his first meeting with Gorbachev, for example, he sent a 'Dear Murph' letter about it to his old friend George Murphy, a former senator and actor who had once played Reagan's father in a film. ↗

— Russell Baker

#act #actor #after #dear #enjoyed

A skillful playwright might have a good time with the story of the assassination of President William McKinley, and especially with the three most flamboyant political figures involved: Mark Hanna, Theodore Roosevelt, and Emma Goldman. ↗

— Russell Baker

#emma #especially #figures #flamboyant #good

American foreign policy had still not recovered from its victory over communism when George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice took over at the White House in 2001. ↗

— Russell Baker

#american foreign policy #bush #communism #condoleezza #condoleezza rice

Few expected very much of Franklin Roosevelt on Inauguration Day in 1933. Like Barack Obama seventy-six years later, he was succeeding a failed Republican president, and Americans had voted for change. What that change might be Roosevelt never clearly said, probably because he himself didn't know. ↗

— Russell Baker

#barack obama #because #change #clearly #day

It seems to be a law in American life that whatever enriches us anywhere except in the wallet inevitably becomes uneconomic. ↗

— Russell Baker

#american life #anywhere #becomes #enriches #except

It was clear soon after his election that Obama, like FDR, wanted to start dealing with the economic crisis immediately after his inauguration. ↗

— Russell Baker

#clear #crisis #dealing #economic #economic crisis

Like all young reporters - brilliant or hopelessly incompetent - I dreamed of the glamorous life of the foreign correspondent: prowling Vienna in a Burberry trench coat, speaking a dozen languages to dangerous women, narrowly escaping Sardinian bandits - the usual stuff that newspaper dreams are made of. ↗

— Russell Baker

#brilliant #coat #correspondent #dangerous #dozen

Listen once in a while. It's amazing what you can hear. ↗

— Russell Baker

#hear #listen #once #while #you

My natural instinct after doing something shameful is not to rush into the street boasting about it but to put on dark glasses and head for the next county, hoping nobody notices I've been in the neighborhood. ↗

— Russell Baker

#after #been #boasting #county #dark

You can always tell folks from nonfolks. Folks like to feel good, like to smile for the camera when there's a big photo opportunity for a really good cause. ↗

— Russell Baker

#big #camera #cause #feel #feel good