US Presidency
1982

Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root. The strength of the Solidarity movement in Poland demonstrates the truth told in an underground joke in the Soviet Union. It is that the Soviet Union would remain a one-party nation even if an opposition party were permitted, because everyone would join the opposition party. America's time as a player on the stage of world history has been brief. I think understanding this fact has always made you patient with your younger cousins, well, not always patient. I do recall that on one occasion, Sir Winston Churchill said in exasperation about one of our most distinguished diplomats: He is the only case I know of a bull who carries his china shop with him. But witty as Sir Winston was, he also had that special attribute of great statesmen, the gift of vision, the willingness to see the future based on the experience of the past.