In an address covering President Bill Clinton’s foreign policy efforts on July 27, 1994, former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney said: ” ‘President Clinton has used bold words to assert that under no circumstances will North Korea be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. But North Korea’s dictators go right along pursuing their nuclear program. …A president’s most important commodity as Commander-in-Chief is his credibility. Bold talk that is never followed up by bold action leads our adversaries to conclude that we do not have to be taken seriously. The cost of reclaiming that credibility once lost is likely to be paid in terms of American lives. In these dangerous times, a president must always say what he means and mean what he says.’ ”
– Stephen F. Hayes, Cheney, Page 263