If I had accepted [my partys nomination to serve a third term], my - TopicsExpress



          

If I had accepted [my partys nomination to serve a third term], my power for useful service would have forever been lessened, because nothing would have prevented the wide diffusion of the impression that I had not really meant what I said, that my actions did not really square with the highest and finest code of ethics -- and if there is any value whatsoever to my career, as far as my countrymen are concerned, it consists in the belief that I have been both an effective public man and, at the same time, a disinterested public servant. Theodore Roosevelt, summer 1908, amplifying why he refused to renege on his commitment not to seek a third term as president, despite overwhelming public approval and the knowledge that it was his for the taking. I would that we had a similar code of ethics and view of elected office today.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 13:20:07 +0000

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