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" When a president was elected with foreign policy experience, it was usually less about his foreign policy experience than other things. "
H. W. Brands
Experience
Foreign Policy
Less
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" When you're actually president, the spin matters a lot less. "
H. W. Brands
President
Spin
Less
" I cannot think of a president or administration that has taken seriously the 100 days. "
H. W. Brands
Days
Taken
Seriously
" If you wanted to, you could write history in Haiku. "
H. W. Brands
You
Wanted
Write
" I'm more inclined to say the presidency has changed Trump rather than Trump changed the presidency. He has moderated or reversed himself on most of the positions he took as a candidate. Reality has set in, as it does with every new president. "
H. W. Brands
More
New
President
" I read in all forms: paper, computer, phone, audio. "
H. W. Brands
Paper
Phone
Read
" Every year, I have my graduate students read the great works of history, from classical times to the present. They gamely tackle Tacitus, ponder Plutarch, plow through Gibbon. Then they get to Thomas Carlyle and feel like Dorothy when she touched down in Technicolor Oz. "
H. W. Brands
Down
Present
History
" Americans knock themselves out, especially since 9/11, praising the military. "
H. W. Brands
Since
Military
Knock
" If - heaven forbid - a shooter did come into my class, I wouldn't want to have to worry about getting caught in a crossfire. "
H. W. Brands
Heaven
Caught
Worry
" I had long known the story of Aaron Burr, but when I heard about his remarkable daughter, Theodosia, about the relationship between the two and about her tragic disappearance, I knew I wanted to tell their story. "
H. W. Brands
Daughter
Two
Story
" Reagan has been deified by the Republican Party, which is odd. The Reagan that modern Republicans revere is not the real Reagan. "
H. W. Brands
Modern
Party
Odd
" Although this should not be so, historians reconsider presidencies based on how the presidents conduct themselves after leaving office. "
H. W. Brands
Should
Office
How
" Abraham Lincoln spoke out against the Mexican War. But once Americans were under fire, people who were on the fence felt obliged to support it. "
H. W. Brands
Support
People
Fence
" Every work of history is a combination of argument and narrative. The longer I write, the more I emphasize the narrative, the story, and the less attention I give to the argument. Arguments come and go. "
H. W. Brands
Go
History
Work
" It's hard to say that Trump actually has a health care policy. "
H. W. Brands
Trump
Say
Care
" Reagan is the subject of ongoing political debate, and a lot of liberals don't want to take Reagan any more seriously than they did when he was president. I understand why they don't, but they should. "
H. W. Brands
Understand
Political
Seriously
" I was raised in, and presumably to, the cutlery business. I really didn't think that that's what I wanted to do for a career. But I felt a certain obligation to give it a try. "
H. W. Brands
Think
Business
Give
" He used humor more effectively than any president since Abraham Lincoln. Reagan was not an especially warm person, but he appeared to be. Many people disliked his policies, but almost no one disliked him. "
H. W. Brands
People
Humor
Him
" Reagan's enduring value as a conservative icon stems from his resolute preaching of the conservative gospel, in words that still warm the hearts of the most zealous conservatives. Yet Reagan's value as a conservative model must begin with recognition of his flexibility in the pursuit of his conservative goals. "
H. W. Brands
Goals
Words
Warm
" If you put on the military uniform, you're a prima facie hero. Generals are the epitome of that. They're the ones who have been most successful at the soldier's trade. "
H. W. Brands
You
Soldier
Successful
" Reagan conspired in the underestimation of his own ability. "
H. W. Brands
Ability
His
Reagan
" If it's a good story, it's a good story, and it draws readers in. "
H. W. Brands
Good Story
Draws
Readers
" Presidents are evaluated not by what they did by the stroke of their own pen; it's what they persuade Congress to do. "
H. W. Brands
Congress
Pen
Persuade
" When you look at the development of the American presidency, you see that the presidents who have had the greatest impact are the ones who fit their times most successfully. "
H. W. Brands
Impact
Look
American
" People are interested in people. They buy biographies; they don't buy studies of presidencies. "
H. W. Brands
Interested
People
Buy
" The American political system is based on the president taking the initiative and Congress responding. With President Trump, it's been the opposite. "
H. W. Brands
System
Congress
Political
" The race question in America has often been about race, but it has equally often been about power. "
H. W. Brands
Been
Race
Question
" The Reagan Revolution has had no second act. "
H. W. Brands
Act
Had
Reagan
" Our love for the Founders leads us to abandon, and even to betray, the very principles they fought for. "
H. W. Brands
Abandon
Us
Our Love
" Politics is not something most people have to do every day. Their daily lives are much more influenced by job opportunities, whether the country is in a recession or a boom period. If you really want to understand what drives American history, look at the economic... side. "
H. W. Brands
Day
Job
Daily
" There is a certain kind of sobering, civilizing effect that being president imposes on people. There is a certain kind of dignity with which you comport yourself. As an observer of the presidency, I have to wonder if Trump would follow that pattern. "
H. W. Brands
Dignity
People
Wonder