Word: vaines
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...happened, the war in Europe ended before the bomb was built. Stimson appointed the so-called Interim Committee on May 1, 1945, to give advice on the Bomb's use against Japan. Scholars have probed the record of the committee's month-long existence in vain for evidence of the kind of deliberative decision-making process that the resort to nuclear weaponry might seem to have warranted. Stimson asked the committee primarily for recommendations about how, not whether, to use the new weapon. Members spent only about 10 minutes of a lunch break discussing a possible demonstration of the Bomb...
...anger (“this is just ridiculous”), next with resignation (“there’s absolutely no way we can beat that crew”), and finally with small glimmers of confidence (“maybe we can surprise them”) interspersed with vain hopes of spectacular reversals (“maybe they’ll have a breakage...
Douglass came away from the meeting deeply moved and resumed recruiting. What most impressed him was Lincoln's honesty and sincerity--"there was no vain pomp and ceremony about him ... In his company I was never in any way reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color." He sensed a kindred spirit in Lincoln, someone "whom I could love, honor, and trust without reserve or doubt." The respect was mutual; Lincoln regarded Douglass as "one of the most meritorious men, if not the most meritorious man, in the United States...
...have proved as durable as this one: while Presidents are attacked by their opponents for what they do or fail to do, First Ladies are disparaged for who they are. What's more, the unattractive traits that presidential spouses have been assigned don't seem to change. They're vain and frivolous (Jacqueline Kennedy in her designer gowns). They're pushy and calculating (Hillary Clinton and her health-care plan). They're irrational and superstitious (Nancy Reagan and her astrologer...
...date, Reagan has shown no inclination to bargain away SDI to accept any limits on it. At their summit in November, Reagan tried in vain to convince Gorbachev that large-scale strategic defenses were in the interests of world peace; Gorbachev tried just as unsuccessfully to interest Reagan in an offense-defense trade-off. Because of the President's very personal--and at the same time very public--commitment to the dream that someday space-based defenses might render nuclear weapons "impotent and obsolete," it is politically dangerous for any member of his Administration to advocate compromise...