David Halberstam dies ("the best and the brightest")

[Charles Doyle]

According to _Brewer's Dictionary of 20th-Century Phrase and Fable_, "the phrase was linked with President Theodore Roosevelt, who in conversation with Douglans MacArthur, summed up his attributes as leader of the US nation in terms of his ability to 'put into words what is in their hearts and minds but not in their mouths'" (no date given).

The phrase "hearts and minds" appears prominently in translations of--and writings about--the education reformer Henry Pestalozzi: for example, Edward Biber, _Henry Pestalozzi, and His Plan of Education_ (1831), p. 18. In 1920, the full phrase "win the hearts and minds" appears in Roger de Guimps, _Pestalozzi: His Life and Work_ (p. 161).

In reference to the Vietnam war, as I recall, the phrase "win the hearts and minds" came from the jargon of the US government regarding its strategy for defeating "Communism."

And don't forget the purported LBJism: "If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 08:56:03 -0400
>From: Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>Subject: Re: David Halberstam dies ("the best and the brightest")
>
>On Tue, 24 Apr 2007, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
>> The Yale Book of Quotations has "the best and the brightest" for  Halberstam but I think he was also known for "hearts and minds."
>
>Any details on that?
>
>Fred Shapiro

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