Ours is a practical people, to whom ideals furnish the theory of political action, upon which they want not only firm assurance, but also effective practice. They want programmes, but they want action to flow from them. They want constructive common sense. They want the development of the common will, not the views of a single individual. They are beginning to realize that words without action are the assassins of idealism.

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) American engineer, bureaucrat, President of the US (1928-32)

In the New York Tribune (29 Apr 1920)

On the 1920 Presidential campaign.