Presidential Quotes (3 of 16): William Howard Taft

Today, we are quoting William Howard Taft (1857-1930), the 27th president of the United States, who also the governor of Cuba (?!) before becoming prez, and a Supreme Court Justice after he was prez.

Taft also became the fifth presidential mascot for the Washington Nationals baseball team. But, he finished tied for last in the Presidents Race with Teddy (Roosevelt) as both had 11 wins. But, George (Washington) topped the victories list this year with 25 wins. The other two presidents represented by the mascot are Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

Speaking of which, the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, where Lincoln was unfortunately assassinated is performing their annual production of "A Christmas Carol" based on the famous novelette by Charles Dickens.

Triad Stage will also be producing their production of "A Christmas Carol;" the Greensboro, NC-based theatre company will have productions of the play at their new second stage in nearby Winston-Salem.

Here is Taft's quote, which makes us think of Clarence Thomas (forgive the political humor):

"Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever."

http://www.fordstheatre.org

http://www.triadstage.org

Quotes from American Presidents (2 of 16): Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt

Greetings to our blog readers in Salt Lake City, Boston and Miami here in America, and to those of you in Lebanon, Belgium and Guatemala.

Our quote today is from Theodore Roosevelt, who is considered to be the most liberal Republican president in history, and thus he has admirers on the right and left. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) got in trouble during a campaign rally in Virginia Beach, Va., when he ran against George W. Bush, when he said that he wanted the GOP to more like 'Teddy Roosevelt's party than Pat Robertson's party.'

Teddy is also a popular Washington Nationals (baseball team) mascot. Since he did win a running of the mascots until the season prior to this one, a blog entitled "Let Teddy Win" was launched and its popular has gone beyond the Washington, DC, metro area: http://www.blog.letteddywin.com

Teddy has been played on film by many actors, most recently Robin Williams. And, there at least six high schools named after him, including one in Kent, Ohio.

Here is his quote:

"The most important single ingredient of success is knowing how to get along with people."

Quote of the Day- Robin Williams

For those of you keeping track of the series, yesterday, I overlooked the fact that Charlton Heston also played Andrew Jackson as President Andrew Jackson in the film "The President's Lady" (1958).

Now that we have that out of the day, let's turn our attention to Robin Williams. He is the latest actor who have played real-life presidents who we are quoting. Williams played Theodore Roosevelt during the Rough Riders years before Roosevelt became president. But, he played Roosevelt in a very non-traditional way as the part was an exhibition piece at a natural history museum which came to life; we are, of course referring to the film "Night at the Museum" (2006) and its sequel which came out three years later.

Both films starred Ben Stiller.

Williams, 61, won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as a psychologist in "Good will Hunting" (1997); the actor got his big break playing the alien Mork on the sitcom "Mork and Mindy" (1974-78), which is very likely the only tv show that took place in Boulder, Colo.

Other actors who have played Theodore Roosevelt including the late Brian Keith (1921-1997) who played him in the film "The Wind and the Lion" (1975). Keith played another president, this time William McKinley in the 1997 tv movie "Rough Riders," which also featured Tom Berrenger as Teddy Roosevelt.

Here is the quote from Mork:

"My God. We've had cloning in the South for years. It's called cousins."

http://www.robinwilliams.com