‘America First’ is a phrase over a century old

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On July 25, 2022 Donald J. Trump made a memorial statement:

 

“….A proud Marine, Mike Long knew how to fight with great spirit for the State that he loved, championing the campaigns of so many America First Warriors, long before the term ‘America First’ was even put forward by me.”

 

But that policy phrase is way older than he is. An article by Anna Diamond at Smithsonian on October 2018 titled The original meanings of the “American Dream” and “America First” were starkly different from how we use them today traces it back to a 1915 speech by Woodrow Wilson. Also, as shown above, it was the title for a 1916 march by John Philip Sousa (which you can listen to here).

 

And an article by David Emery at Snopes on February 9, 2018 titled Was ‘America First’ a slogan of the Ku Klux Klan? found it indeed was used by them back in the 1920s. Then, in 1940 there was the isolationist America First Committee. The December 6, 1941 issue of their Bulletin included a dismissive headline stating U.S. Interests Not at Stake in Japanese ‘Crisis.’ But the next morning was the attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

I got started on this topic by seeing an article by Scott Simon at NPR on July 23, 2022 titled ‘America First,’ invoked by Trump, has a complicated history.