I, we, America: the brightest slogans of US presidential candidates

Many people think that the saying “Don’t change horses in midstream” is Russian. It has already become so firmly established in our speech that it seems like our own, dear. In fact, the author of this aphorism is Abraham Lincoln. He said this phrase when he was re-elected to a second term in 1864. What other election slogans of US presidential candidates are remembered throughout the country and the world? "Voice of America".

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Lincoln's message was clear - it was not profitable to change the president at the height of the Civil War. The slogan became so popular that it was later adopted by Roosevelt and Bush Sr.

Slogans of American presidents in general have often become and continue to become winged and go to the people. Most of them use words that symbolize things that voters understand.

Judy Parkinson, author of Key Phrase, Slogan and Cliché, notes that political slogans are endless combinations of concepts such as:

• force;
• tomorrow;
• leadership;
• an association;
• America;
• a family;
• welfare;
• people.

Of course, every election campaign in US history was unique, and the slogans, of which there were certainly a lot, were all different. Nevertheless, some generalizations can be made.

America is our everything!

The first group is slogans in which America is mentioned in one way or another. Interestingly, its famous slogan "Make America Great Again!" Donald Trump actually borrowed from another Republican president, Ronald Reagan. His pre-election slogan differed from the current one in just one word. Reagan sounded like "Let`s Make America Great Again".

By the way, in 1984 Reagan had another slogan: "It's morning again in America." It meant that his rule strengthened the position of the United States in the confrontation with the Soviet Union.

Bill Clinton's slogan in 1992 was "Time to Change America." In 2004, presidential candidate John Kerry used the slogan: "Let America Be America Again." And George W. Bush said, "Yes, America can!"

We're the same blood!

The second large group is slogans about voters with whom the candidate identifies. Usually this unity is expressed using the pronoun “we”. One of the most striking examples of recent years is, of course, Barack Obama’s slogan: “Yes, we can!”

Interesting from this point of view is the slogan of President Ulysses Grant, who in 1868 went to the elections with the motto: "Give us peace!" Grant was the commander-in-chief of the armies of the North, which are known to have defeated the Confederates. At the time, the conflict between northerners and southerners was still smoldering. Therefore, Grant wanted to show with this slogan that he is aimed at reconciliation, and not at new conflicts. As a result, he won the elections.

The conciliatory "we" was also used in 1916 by Woodrow Wilson, who was running for a second term. His slogan was: "He shielded us from war" ("He Kept Us Out of War). It was about the First World War, in which many countries were already involved by that time.

Wilson won the election, but just a few months after his inauguration, the United States entered the war on the side of the Entente.

Promises you will not be full

The third group of slogans is, of course, about the economy. This category is perhaps the brightest and most diverse. Here you can recall the name of the "New Deal" by Franklin Roosevelt and the slogan of his relative Theodore Roosevelt - "Justice for everyone." Roosevelt promised to create equal conditions for businessmen and employees. And the famous “Read our lips: there will be no new taxes” by Bush Sr.

President Herbert Hoover was credited with the phrase “A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage.” However, he himself never said anything like that; it was the work of the Republican Party advertisers.

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One of the slogans of another Republican, William McKinley, was "Plate full for dinner."

The very word "economy" also appeared in the slogans. Bill Clinton was remembered for his address to George W. Bush, “It`s the economy, stupid” (“This is the economy, you fool!”).

However, sometimes slogans about economics are more poetic than practical. This is the slogan used against his main competitor Landon Franklin Roosevelt, it sounded like this: "Sunflowers die in November". The fact is that Landon was from Kansas, the symbol of which is the sunflower. Well, the US presidential elections, as you know, are held in November.

The state is me

The fourth group is the presidents' slogans about their loved ones. For example, Harry Truman in 1948 came up with the slogan “I`m Wild About Harry,” which translates roughly as “I’m crazy about Harry.” These were the words from a popular song.

World War II hero Dwight D. Eisenhower went to the polls in 1952 with the motto “I like Ike” (“I like Ike). And in 1956, when he was re-elected, he slightly corrected it and the slogan began to sound like "I still like Ike", that is, "I still like Ike."

Richard Nixon also had a modest slogan: “Nixon’s the One.”

Which slogans are successful and which are not? And do they help to win elections? They say that good slogans have rhyme and rhythm, they sound great. And truly great slogans may not have this, but they seem to look into a person's soul and make him a little better.

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