Campaign Slogans: To Recycle Or Not To Recycle?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 11:13AM
W. R. in 2012, Ben Smith, Campaign, Eisenhower, George W Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Slogan, Warren Harding, Wendell Willkie
Ben Smith reported last night that Mitt Romney's new slogan, "Believe in America," was previously used by John Kerry for a cross-country bus tour. However, many presidential campaign slogans have been strikingly similar, albeit not exactly the same, as previous campaigns:
- George W. Bush's 2004 campaign message, as introduced at his RNC Nomination speech was "TURN THE CORNER," which was near identical to FDR's 1932 slogan, "WE ARE TURNING THE CORNER"
- Both Nixon and Reagan stressed the urgency of their message, Nixon with "NIXON NOW" and Reagan with "THE TIME IS NOW"
- John McCain's 2008 slogan "COUNTRY FIRST," was almost the same as Warren Harding's "AMERICA FIRST" in 1920.
- Eisenhower's "WE LIKE IKE" sounded like a rip-off of Wendell Willkie's 1940 message "WE WANT WILKIE," except one was a rhyme and the other used alliteration.
Article originally appeared on Will Rabbe, Producer, Journalist & Historian (http://willrabbe.com/).
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