elstaffe’s Reviews > It all Started with Columbus > Status Update

"GLOSSARY OF TERMS.
Conservative: A man who saves his money (even before women and children)" (121). Ouch, but...

"Those who thought [Kennedy's] voice might change after he had been in office a while did not realize that the New England accent has been with us for more than three hundred years" (118).

"General MacArthur wanted to bomb the Chinese bases, but since all Chinese look alike, President Truman was afraid he might also hit an occasional baritone or tenor" (114). Oooof that did not age well (although I don't know if it would've even been normal at the time of publication for non white dudes)

"The Russians were afraid of Finland, a large and powerful nation that constantly threatened their security with warlike acts such as playing the music of Sibelius" (110). Duuhhhhh dun. Duhhhhh duh duh duhhhhhh duh duh (wahwahwahwahwahwah wah wah)

"[William Howard Taft's] great hunger (and wealth) led him to demand steaks for breakfast.[1]
[1]Thus becoming widely known as the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" (96). Is this...is this a shout-out to autocrat coffee syrup?

"Roosevelt was known as a man of unquenchable energy. He paid little attention to rank, money, and social position, perhaps because he had so much of all three" (94).

"As a boy, Roosevelt was weak and sickly, but he built himself up by boxing and taking exercises with dumbbells in a gymnasium. Gradually he became more and more robust, despite several years at Harvard" (93).

"Henry Ford was fond of saying, 'History is bunk.' Historians, in turn, called Henry Ford 'a damned old crankshaft'" (86).

"Vanderbilt's control of carts and cartels gave him a virtual monotony of transportation. One of his favorite expressions, which endeared him to everyone, was 'The public be damned'" (85).

"...crack shots[1]
[1]Able to shoot through narrow cracks and knotholes" (78). Hadn't thought about where this expression came from before but I am now