President Thomas Whitmore Quotes in Independence Day (1996)

[the President briefs the pilots before the final attack]

President Thomas Whitmore: Good morning.

[PA doesn't work. Turns it on]

President Thomas Whitmore: Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!

[crowd cheers]

Gen. Gray: Are you all right?

President Thomas Whitmore: I saw... its thoughts. I saw what they're planning to do. They're like locusts. They're moving from planet to planet... their whole civilization. After they've consumed every natural resource they move on... and we're next. Nuke 'em. Let's nuke the bastards.

Russel Casse: [Russell's final missile malfunctions] Do me a favor. Tell my children... I love them very much.

[Sets a collision course]

Russel Casse: All right, you alien assholes! In the words of my generation: Up... YOURS!

President Thomas Whitmore: Good luck, buddy!

Russel Casse: Ha-ha-ha! Hello, boys! I'm BAAAAAACK!

[His plane crashes into the unshielded alien ship, destroying it]

Julius Levinson: Hey, hey, hey, don't you tell him to shut up! You'd all be dead now if it weren't for my David! None of you did anything to prevent this!

Gen. Gray: There was nothing we could do! We were totally unprepared for...

Julius Levinson: AAAHHH, don't give me unprepared! You knew about this for years! What,with that spaceship you found in New Mexico! What was it called... Roswell, New Mexico! And that other place... uh... Area 51, Area 51! You knew then! And you did nothing!

President Thomas Whitmore: Mr. Levinson, contrary to what you may have read in the tabloids, there is no Area 51. There is no spaceship...

Albert Nimzicki: Uh... excuse me, Mr. President? That's not entirely accurate.

David Levinson: What, which part?

President Thomas Whitmore: The only mistake I ever made was to appoint a sniveling little weasel like you Secretary of Defense. However, that is a mistake, I am happy to say, that I don't have to live with. Mr. Nimzicki... you're fired.

President Thomas Whitmore: I don't understand, where does all this come from? How do you get funding for something like this?

Julius Levinson: You don't actually think they spend $20,000 on a hammer, $30,000 on a toilet seat, do you?

Gen. Gray: Mr. President, I'd sure like to know what you're doing.

President Thomas Whitmore: I'm a combat pilot, Will. I belong in the air.

President Thomas Whitmore: What do you want us to do?

Captured Alien: Die. Die.

[Russell Casse needs an opening to attack during the final battle]

President Thomas Whitmore: Okay, boys, let's give Mr. Casse some cover. Gentlemen, let's plow the road!

President Thomas Whitmore: Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, destroyed.

Gen. Gray: We have also learned that NORAD and our top commandos were the first to be taken out. At this rate, we could be looking at the worldwide destruction of every major city in the next 36 hours.

President Thomas Whitmore: Then we're being exterminated.

President Thomas Whitmore: [addressing the nation] If you feel compelled to leave these cities, please do so, in an orderly fashion.

[shot moves to very chaotic city street]

President Thomas Whitmore: Doesn't anybody have any missiles left?

Patricia Whitmore: Is Mommy sleeping now?

President Thomas Whitmore: Yeah, Mommy is sleeping now.

Constance: Now what do we do?

President Thomas Whitmore: Address the nation. There's gonna be a lot of frightened people out there.

Constance: Yeah? I'm one of 'em.

Patricia Whitmore: [speaking to her mother on the telephone] Daddy let me watch Letterman.

President Thomas Whitmore: Traitor.

[deleted scene]

President Thomas Whitmore: It's a fine line between standing behind a principle and hiding behind one. You can tolerate a little compromise, if you're actually managing to get something accomplished.