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The Ten Cannots ! |
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William J. H. Boetcker (1873 – 1962) was an American religious leader and
influential public speaker.
Born in
Hamburg, Germany, he was ordained a
Presbyterian
minister soon after his arrival in the
United States as a young adult. He quickly gained attention as an
eloquent motivational speaker, and is often regarded today as the forerunner
of such contemporary "success coaches" as
Anthony Robbins.
An outspoken political conservative, Rev. Boetcker is perhaps best remembered for his authorship of a pamphlet entitled The Ten Cannots. Originally published in 1916, it is often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln. The error apparently stems from a leaflet printed in 1942 by a conservative political organization called the Committee for Constitutional Government. The leaflet bore the title "Lincoln on Limitations" and contained some genuine Lincoln quotations on one side and the "Ten Cannots" on the other, with the attributions juxtaposed. The mistake of crediting Lincoln for having been the source of "The Ten Cannots" has been repeated many times since, most notably by Ronald Reagan in a speech he gave at the 1992 Republican convention in Houston. There are several minor variants of the pamphlet in circulation, but the most commonly-accepted version appears below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._H._Boetcker
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