Thursday, August 02, 2012

Who Gave This Quintessentially American September 11th Quote?

"But when you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until it has struck before you crush him."

2 comments:

Michael said...

President Franklin D Rosevelt in his Sept 1941 fireside chat. He was referring to an act of aggression (i.e. a Nazi submarine) fired a topedo at a USN destroyer near the coast of Greenland. It was at a time when there was much public sentiment was against getting involved in Europe's problems. The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor three months later quickly tilted sentiment the other direction. Despite the fact is was FDR, my first guess was President Reagan....it sounds like his sense of humor.

Darren said...

You are correct, sir! September 11, 1941.

Based on your last sentence, though, I'm assuming you didn't know this quote but rather looked it up. I learned of it while reading Codevilla and Seabury's War: Ends and Means.