Quote: "There are only 90,000 people out there...."

Wed Oct 23 20:58:20 UTC 2013

According to Hickel, Kissinger uttered the line at a meeting with Hickel,
Secretary of State William Rogers, and two other officials in May or June
1969. The issue was whether the U.S. should invoke its trustee power of
eminent domain over the Trust Territory of Micronesia to seize (rather than
buy or lease) land from the locals for military purposes. Hickel had just
returned from a visit to Saipan, whose residents had expressed their moral
right to be compensated.

Writes Hickel (208):

"We had established military bases in Turkey and Spain without right of
eminent domain. What right did we have to invoke eminent domain on the
Micronesians? They had little enough land for their own needs, and their
very livelihood depended on that land and the surrounding ocean. They
wanted to work with us, They told me on Saipan that all they wanted was a
voice in our decisions.

"But Kissinger's answer in Rogers's office was: 'There are only 90,000
people out there. Who gives a damn?'

"I did. In fact, I was totally shocked by this remark. This seemed to me an
inhuman approach to a situation involving human beings. ..."

JL

On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 1:49 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Quote: "There are only 90,000 people out there...."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Anderson tried it in 1971. See above.
>
> JL
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 22, 2013 at 11:03 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Quote: "There are only 90,000 people out there...."
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Warning -- adult language and political expression follow.
> >
> > For this quotation, one could go straight to the ass's mouth.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > At 10/22/2013 07:41 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >Thanks, G.
> > >
> > >In principle this an excellent example of a case where the attributed
> > >source almost certainly uttered the words (more or less); but given the
> > >context (a "meeting" of cabinet officials), they may have been meant to
> > >characterize somebody else's opinion, been intended ironically, or even
> > >said in jest.
> > >
> > >I'm not claiming that they were, however. Perhaps Hickel 's book
> clarifies
> > >it.
> > >
> > >JL
> > >
> > >
> > >On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 9:04 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> > >adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject:      Re: Quote: "There are only 90,000 people out there...."
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > The HathiTrust search engine says there is a match on page 208 for
> the
> > > > following "There are only 90,000 people out there. Who gives a damn"
> > > > within his edition:
> > > >
> > > > Year: 1971
> > > > Title: Who owns America?
> > > > Author: Walter J. Hickel.
> > > > Publisher: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall
> > > > Physical Description: xii, 328 p. 22 cm.
> > > > Original Classification Number: E855 .H63
> > > >
> > > > I have not seen the above book. A book reviewer in the Los Angeles
> > > > Times gave the following context for the quotation attributed to
> > > > Kissinger.
> > > >
> > > > Newspaper: Los Angeles Times
> > > > Article date: September 16, 1971
> > > > Article title: Book by Hickel Explains How Nixon Fired Him: Tells
> > > > Differences Over SST and Rebuffs When He Criticized Invasion of
> > > > Cambodia
> > > > Article page: A4
> > > > Article author: Don Oberdorfer
> > > > Newspaper location: Los Angeles, California
> > > >
> > > > [Begin excerpt ; check for OCR errors]
> > > > Presidential Asst. Henry A. Kissinger objected to Hickel's demand for
> > > > "full compensation" with "full consultation" for any land taken by
> the
> > > > government from the Pacific islands people of Micronesia, where the
> > > > United States is in charge under a United Nations trusteeship. Hickel
> > > > quotes Kissinger as saying at a State Department meeting, "There are
> > > > only 90,000 people out there. Who gives a damn?"
> > > > [End excerpt]
> > > >
> > > > Garson
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 7:47 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> > > > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > > Subject:      Quote: "There are only 90,000 people out there...."
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > >
> > > > > Among the Henry Kissinger quotes in YBQ, one does *not* find the
> > > > following,
> > > > > which is, as they say, "all over the Internet."
> > > > >
> > > > > As best I can tell, it appeared for the first time in former
> Interior
> > > > > Secretary Wally Hickel's "Who Owns America?" (Prentice-Hall, 1971),
> > but
> > > > GB
> > > > > won't cough up the page.
> > > > >
> > > > > Kissinger seems to have been discussing, in 1969, Marshall
> Islanders
> > who
> > > > > had been exposed to radiation from U.S. nuclear tests in the 1950s,
> > but
> > > > not
> > > > > having seen the context I can't swear to it.
> > > > >
> > > > > "There are only 90,000 people out there. Who gives a damn?"
> > > > >
> > > > > According to Jack Anderson's column of Oct. 22, 1971, "Kissinger
> > tells us
> > > > > he can't remember making the statement that Hickel attributes to
> > him. It
> > > > is
> > > > > contrary, he says, to his actual views."
> > > > >
> > > > > Anderson that the statement was nonetheless typical of both
> > Democratic
> > > > and
> > > > > Republican attitudes toward Micronesia.
> > > > >
> > > > > JL
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > > > truth."
> > > > >
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