"Promises, Promises" returned to Broadway in 2010 after four decades. The musical comedy with music by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David returned during a revival of the '60s.
The world of politics also is a prized comedy, as promises are now constantly being made by candidates reaching far and wide for your vote.
The candidates from the lowest possible office to president of the United States can make whopper promises. As history denotes, a lot of campaign promises were broken -some were very bold, some very successful. Some of those candidates were even called big liars.
We hear so much lately about health care and "Obamacare." We can go way back to 1945, as Harry Truman, shortly after replacing FDR, announced to Congress his intention and desire to give everyone a new national health care system. This promise failed.
Reasons that it failed were the United States' entrance into the Korean War and much opposition from the American Medical Association.
One big and bold promise and an actual achievement came from President Eisenhower in 1955 with his success in creating the interstate highway system in 1956.
His argument for the system was not for economic growth, but for national security. Eisenhower said that in the event of future war, the installation of a highway system would provide for easy evacuation of major cities as well as mobilization of the military.
On May 25, 1961, President John Kennedy proclaimed, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."
On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong realized Kennedy's goal when he took one small step for man on the moon. A successful promise!
At his State of the Union speech in 1964, Lyndon Johnson declared an unconditional war on poverty in his vision of a ''Great Society.'' Several federal programs were enacted. The poverty rate at that time was 19 percent. It was a successful promise.
In 1970, cancer was the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. President Richard Nixon chose to make the subject a part of the State of the Union Address in January 1971, when he asked for an appropriation of an extra $100 million to launch an intensive campaign to find a cure for cancer.
It was a good promise, but cancer still has no real cure.
From President Jimmy Carter in 1978: "I am setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977."
Bold promise; little results.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan introduced his Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars." Its sole purpose was to protect the U.S. from strategic nuclear ballistic missiles through the use of ground and space-based systems forming a shield for nuclear attacks.
This promise never happened.
When George H.W. Bush was vice president, new proposals were added to the war on drugs, and Bush was put in charge of heading a task force focused on international drug smuggling and the government's efforts to prevent drugs from entering the U.S. from foreign countries. He took his experience with him into the Oval Office where his focus on the subject remained.
Good promise, good work, but drug traffic remains high.
President George W. Bush proposed in his 2003 State of the Union address a plan for hydrogen-fueled cars that would bring down pollution and America's dependence on foreign energy. Bush asked for $1.2 billion in federal money for five years on the subject.
Scientists claim that hydrogen is four times the cost of petrol. You be the judge on that one.
So those are just a few good and bad promises from very high offices. All the candidates at this time are working on some new promises that may or may not be good ones aimed directly at us voters.
Good luck.