'Presidential Humor'

By RON BERTHEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The leader of the free world -- aka the president of the United States -- deals with some pretty serious issues every day. So when the chief executive gets off a good one-liner now and then, it's noteworthy.
In "Presidential Humor," Liz Carpenter, who worked for Presidents Johnson, Ford and Carter, has compiled dozens of White House witticisms and wise words uttered by and about U.S. presidents from Washington to Bush, by George!
Here are some examples from the book:
"Thank God, she doesn't have to be confirmed by the Senate." (Herbert Hoover referring to his newborn granddaughter)
"Mrs. Eisenhower and I got an invitation to the Inaugural Ball saying RSVP, and I told her to answer it and say we had another engagement." (Dwight D. Eisenhower)
"If you can't convince them, confuse them." (Harry S. Truman)
"It is a great pleasure -- and a great honor -- to be at the Yale Law School's Sesquicentennial Convocation. And I defy anyone to say that and chew gum at the same time." (Gerald R. Ford)
"Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette -- the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace." (John Tyler)
"Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all." (Abraham Lincoln)
"I've given my aides instructions that if trouble breaks out in any of the world's hot spots, they should wake me up immediately, even if I am in a cabinet meeting." (Ronald Reagan)
"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
"No man will ever bring out of the presidency the reputation which carries him into it." (Thomas Jefferson)
"It was absolutely involuntary. They sank my boat." (John F. Kennedy when asked about his wartime heroics.)
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