Shermanesque statement

"[2] US President Lyndon B. Johnson invoked the pledge in his March 31, 1968, national address, which focused mainly on the Vietnam War.

"[3] 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.

"[4] 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".

In 1983, Democratic Congressman Mo Udall of Arizona, who was noted for his wit and who had campaigned for president in 1976, was asked if he would run in the 1984 election.

[11] In June 2004, the former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond said, in response to questions about whether he would seek the leadership again, that "If nominated I'll decline.