Shermanesque statement

"Shermanesque statement", "Sherman statement", or "Sherman speech" is American political jargon for a clear and direct statement by a potential candidate indicating that he or she will not run for a particular elected position.

The term derives from the Sherman pledge, a remark made by American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman when he was being considered as a possible Republican candidate for the presidential election of 1884. He declined, saying, "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected." Thirteen years prior, he had similarly asserted, "I hereby state, and mean all that I say, that I never have been and never will be a candidate for President; that if nominated by either party, I should peremptorily decline; and even if unanimously elected I should decline to serve." These statements are often abbreviated as "If drafted, I will not run; if nominated, I will not accept; if elected, I will not serve."

President Lyndon B. Johnson invoked the pledge in his March 31, 1968, national address announcing that he would not seek a second full term, saying "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt inverted the pledge in 1944, stating that he felt obligated to serve if nominated: "If the people command me to continue in this office and in this war, I have as little right to withdraw as the soldier has to leave his post in the line."Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted "to use words similar to Sherman's" when many asked him in the 1940s to run for the presidency, but did not because he believed that no one "has the right to state, categorically, that he will not perform any duty that his country might demand of him".

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