Quote mystery


Who said “There’s nothing so powerful as truth,” and was that what he really meant?

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 am and is filed under Elections, Humor, Millard Fillmore, Politics, Presidents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to Quote mystery

  1. B. Elwin Sherman's avatar B. Elwin Sherman says:
    January 5, 2008 at 3:29 pm

    Ed:

    I believe that James Buchanan and Sam Houston, AKA “Sam & James,” were a popular Soul/Rhythm & Blues duo in the mid to late 1800’s. They had a string of minor successes which played well in Pennsylvania and Texas, but they were most widely known for the now classic: “Hold On, I’m Comin’ To The Alamo,” written by Sam Houston.

    It’s rumored that James never liked the song, but knew a good rallying cry when he heard one. In a fit of inspired counterpoint, James later wrote, “Secession Soul Man.” This made it to number 2 on the Billboard Top Ten, at a time when the list had only gained notoriety as the Top Six With A Bullet, and the country had no billboards. It was considered a “campfire hit” well into the Civil War.

    Sam & Jim left the music business after the war, and following a few failed attempts to reunite in the “Nostalgia Tour,” (no one had any nostalgia yet) they retired into politics.

    All best,
    El
    http://www.elwinshumor.com

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  2. Ed Darrell's avatar Ed Darrell says:
    January 4, 2008 at 11:14 am

    Thank you for dropping by, Mr. Sherman. Please continue to write about politics, and historical figures. We need the laughs, God knows.

    What do you have on James Buchanan? Sam Houston?

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  3. B. Elwin Sherman's avatar B. Elwin Sherman says:
    January 4, 2008 at 10:44 am

    Ed:

    Thanks for the link back to my “President Daniel Webster, And Other Great Humorists” column, which Janice Brown was also kind enough to post on her Cow Hampshire blog.

    Be a different world if Mr. Webster hadn’t scoffed at the opportunity to step in as Zachary Taylor’s “bucket of spit.” Might Mr. Benet’s adaptation of Washington Irving’s short story then become “The Devil And Millard Filmore?”

    All best,
    El
    http://www.elwinshumor.com

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  4. Ed Darrell's avatar Ed Darrell says:
    January 4, 2008 at 2:16 am

    So Webster himself documented his saying it! Thanks.

    You can write the footnote smaller than that URL.

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  5. David Parker's avatar David Parker says:
    January 4, 2008 at 1:35 am

    Happy New Year, Ed!

    Google Books turns up the quotation “There is nothing so powerful as truth; and often nothing so strange” in “The Murder of Captain Joseph White: An Argument on the Trial of John F. Knapp, for the Murder of Joseph White, of Salem, in the County of Essex, Massachusetts, on the Night of the 6th of April, 1830,” in _The Works of Daniel Webster_, vol. 6 (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), 68.

    I THINK that the following ridiculously long URL will take you to the page:

    http://books.google.com/books?id=TFk8AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22there+is+nothing+so+powerful+as+truth%22&pg=PA68&ci=161,942,765,413&source=bookclip“> About this book Read this bookThe Works of Daniel Webster … By Daniel Webster, Edward Everett

    *** Well, after I did all that, I came across a slightly earlier citation: Webster’s _Speeches and Forensic Arguments_ (1848), but it looks like the same thing.

    David

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