President Barack Obama shed tears on Tuesday while talking about the victims of mass shootings and announcing his new gun control measures, prompting sympathy from his supporters and even his political rivals.
"Well, I actually think he was sincere," GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said on Wednesday,
according to Politico.
"I think he probably means well," said Trump, but added that, "The [gun control] concept is wrong."
Gathered below are eight other things that have moved past commanders-in-chief to tears, and showed the humanity and values our leaders hold most dearly.
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1. Heroism — On Jan. 11, 2007, President George W. Bush was photographed with tears running down his cheeks after presenting the Medal of Honor to the family of Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham in the East Room of the White House. In 2004, Dunham deliberately covered an enemy grenade during the early years of the Iraq War to save his fellow Marines,
NBC News reported. He was severely injured, and died just days later.
2. Children — Former President George H. W. Bush cried in 2006 while addressing lawmakers and administrators gathered in the Florida House for the last of his son Gov. Jeb Bush's leadership forums. He said Jeb persevered and showed tremendous leadership after initially losing his gubernatorial bid in 1994,
The Associated Press reported. In 2012,
the Daily Mail reported that the elder Bush also cried when his granddaughter, Jenna Bush Hager, interviewed him on growing old.
3. Accomplishment —
According to The New York Times, "When Ginsburg was sworn in as a Justice, she thanked her mother in a speech that made President Bill Clinton cry, saying, 'I pray that I may be all that she would have been had she lived in an age when women could aspire and achieve and daughters are as cherished as sons.'"
4. Marriage — Former President Gerald Ford cried during a tribute to his wife, Betty, at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000.
According to USA Today, "In his first presidential address, Gerald Ford said he was 'acutely aware' that he had not been elected and said, 'I am indebted to no man, and only to one woman — my dear wife — as I begin this very difficult job.'" Betty Ford, who died in 2011, was remembered for bringing the issue of breast cancer to the public forum.
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5. Artistry — At last month's 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, singer Aretha Franklin performed her 1967 hit "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," and brought a tear to President Obama's eye,
The Guardian U.K. reported.
6. Valor — President Dwight D. Eisenhower cried when he met with paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division ahead of D-Day during World War II. "I’ve done all I can," he reportedly told them. "Now it is up to you." Eisenhower then stood on the roof of the nearby headquarters, saluting each plane with tears in his eyes as it left for France,
according to Time magazine. Just a few years later, in 1952, he cried after giving a speech at a luncheon for the 82nd Airborne,
Politico reported.
7. Grandparents — "In 2008, on the day before the presidential election, Obama cried at a campaign stop while discussing his grandmother, who had just died,"
The Daily Beast reported.
8. The birth of America — When George Washington traveled to New York in 1789 to be sworn in as the nation's first president, a man named Dr. Cogswell wrote that ''from the Battery to the Coffee House, where the General landed, the ships, docks, and houses were crowded with people as thick as they could stand."
The New York Times reported. Washington himself ''was obliged to wipe his eyes several times.''
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