During his term in office, Adams was faced with a growing war threat from France. He believed that agents of the French Directory were operating in the US in a plot to "...force American 'wives and daughters' into 'legal prostitution'..." and that these agents would attack the east coast and try to kill him. Adams referred to this threat as "terrorism", making this one of the first, if not the first, use of the term to define a national security threat to the US.
Adams friend and advisor, Elbridge Gerry, provided an interesting description of the danger poised by a "...large standing army...": it was like a "...swollen penis, providing '...an excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but dangerous temptation to foreign adventure".
(Source: Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss. Simon and Schuster Publishing 2007. Page 35.)
No comments:
Post a Comment