Word: aback
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...year (and especially in 1951), the U.S. press, U.S. officialdom and the U.S. people are used to scandals in which somebody steals something, takes a big bribe, or runs off with another man's wife. But they were taken aback by the trouble at West Point-which raised more delicate and difficult moral questions than the customary hearty fare. After the first shock, the nation plunged into debate...
Prime Minister Clement Attlee seemed taken aback by Ike's eloquence, said lamely: ". . . Speech of wide sweep ... I am sure we will all want to study [it] very carefully . . ." Winston Churchill was nearly as fiery as Ike. But first, he said, the English-speaking nations must unite; the rest would follow. "And here we have Ike," cried Churchill enthusiastically banging the table, "here to stand up for the unity of Europe...
...Make 'em Careful." Taken aback by the protests, the house of representatives turned down the bill calling for state regulation. The more obedient senate rushed approval of the other two, passed them for house action on the last day of the session. Administration Floor Leader Frank Twitty argued that the bills were aimed at newspapers to "make 'em careful" about printing "wild charges and untruths." But even staunch Talmadgites wavered in the face of the newspaper protests...
...intimates, the President's moments of glum self-appraisal seemed mostly concerned with his daughter's instant reaction to the first news of the letter-her "absolutely positive" belief that her father would never use such language. The President was also a little taken aback at the worldwide sensation his mule skinner's phrasing...
...Algernon George de Vere Capell, bald, pipe-puffing 66-year-old eighth Earl of Essex, was taken slightly aback last week when a Seattle marriage-license clerk told him that he would have to wait three days before getting hitched. The Earl's bride-to-be, 37-year-old, New York-born Mildred Carlson, had come back to the U.S. from Australia to become his third wife, and he was naturally impatient to get the details concluded-he was short of dollars and planned to travel on Mildred's funds until he got to Bermuda and a rapprochement...