When they want their nanny.

An old wet nurse symbolizing France as nanny-state and public-health provider (color photomechanical reproduction of a lithograph editorial cartoon by N. Dorville, 1901)

“When faced with economic uncertainty, people don’t want freedom. When they can’t see their economic future, they want the nanny state.’’

— John McLaughlin (1927-2016) a Providence native and one-time Jesuit priest who became a well-known conservative writer and public-affairs talk show host, best known for running The McLaughlin Group. His forceful and abrupt style was much parodied.

John McLaughlin with President Richard Nixon on May 3, 1974. Mr. McLaughlin wrote speeches for Nixon, who resigned in the Watergate scandal on Aug. 8, 1974.