GOP words of wisdom

For the 1916 presidential election, Republican leaders tried to find a candidate who could unite the party, after the Progressive split of 1912 had cost the GOP the presidency.

The elders' first choice for a unifier was Elihu Root, who had won the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize and been a cabinet member for 10 years. He declined to be considered, stating:

You are all bent on killing me. You know that a man seventy-two years old, as I shall be when the next President is inaugurated, cannot bear the burden of the Presidency.

Now that's putting country first.