50 Fun Facts About Political Campaign Slogans

The word 'slogan' comes from 'sluagh-ghairm', a Scottish Gaelic term for which kind of shout?

A battle cry is what Gaelic clans meant by sluagh-ghairm, which joins the words for army and shout. English borrowed it in forms such as 'slughorn' before settling on slogan.

Whig supporters in 1840 pushed a giant paper globe covered in slogans from town to town, popularizing which phrase?

Keep the ball rolling was a newly coined phrase when Clevelanders built the sphere for a rally in Columbus. The stunt inspired the campaign's most famous song.

Which president's nickname 'Old Kinderhook' helped spread the expression 'OK' during his 1840 re-election campaign?

Martin Van Buren came from Kinderhook, New York, so Democrats claimed the fashionable initials stood for his nickname. He lost the election, but OK stuck.

Which Second World War general won the 1952 presidential election on the slogan 'I Like Ike'?

Dwight Eisenhower and his brothers were all called Ike as boys, a short form of the family surname. His landslide gave Republicans the White House for the first time in 20 years.

Which candidate registered 'Make America Great Again' as a service mark in 2015, weeks after entering the race?

Donald Trump secured exclusive rights to the phrase for political use, but not for commerce. A radio host spotted the gap and trademarked it for merchandise that August.

Which 1928 Republican candidate did a party flier promote with the promise of 'a chicken in every pot'?

Herbert Hoover was sold to voters in a Republican flier that also promised a car in every garage. The Wall Street Crash arrived less than a year into his presidency.

Walter Mondale's 1984 debate jab at Gary Hart borrowed a catchphrase from which fast-food chain's TV commercial?

Wendy's aired the ad that year with Clara Peller demanding to know where the meat was. Mondale turned her question on Hart's 'new ideas' and went on to win the nomination.

Which band's 1977 hit 'Don't Stop' became the theme song of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign?

Fleetwood Mac played the song in person at Clinton's 1993 inaugural ball after he persuaded the group to perform. Christine McVie had written it about her ex-husband, bassist John McVie.

George H. W. Bush's 1988 convention pledge beginning 'Read my lips' promised that he would bring in no new what?

Taxes went up anyway under a 1990 budget deal with Congress, and a primary rival threw the broken pledge back at him in 1992. Speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote the line.

Which president's 1984 re-election ad, narrated by adman Hal Riney, declared that it was 'morning again in America'?

Ronald Reagan's ad was officially titled 'Prouder, Stronger, Better' and showed Americans heading off to work. He went on to carry 49 of the 50 states.

Which Illinois senator's 2008 presidential campaign turned the chant 'Yes We Can' into its rallying cry?

Barack Obama made the phrase the refrain of a speech after finishing second in the New Hampshire primary. Numerous celebrities then sang his words back in a song supporting him.

Which strategist coined 'The economy, stupid' on a sign meant only for Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign staff?

James Carville hung the sign in the Little Rock headquarters to keep the team on message. It was written for insiders, yet one line became the campaign's unofficial slogan.

Which candidate's 1916 campaign ran on the slogan 'He Kept Us Out of War', months before America joined the fighting?

Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany in April 1917, barely a month after his second inauguration.

Which president asked voters in 1864 not to swap horses in the middle of a stream?

Abraham Lincoln ran that year under a National Union banner, dropping the Republican name to attract Democrats who backed the war.

Which Conservative leader became prime minister in 1979 after the 'Labour Isn't Working' dole-queue poster campaign?

Margaret Thatcher's party staged the poster's line of jobless people: only 20 Young Conservative volunteers turned up to be photographed.

Which 1920 candidate promised war-weary American voters a 'return to normalcy' and won the White House?

Warren G. Harding was mocked for 'normalcy', which critics called a botched form of normality. The former newspaper editor replied that it was the word in his dictionary.

Which candidate's 1932 campaign adopted 'Happy Days Are Here Again', a song from the film Chasing Rainbows?

Franklin Roosevelt's advisers switched to the tune at the 1932 convention after a dirge-like 'Anchors Aweigh' had been played over and over without enthusiasm.

Which Republican did Harry Truman upset in 1948 after a whistle-stop shout gave him 'Give 'em Hell, Harry'?

Thomas E. Dewey was so widely expected to win that the Chicago Tribune printed a front page announcing his victory, which Truman held up for the cameras two days after the vote.

The 1840 slogan 'Tippecanoe and Tyler Too' recalled an 1811 victory over which Shawnee leader's confederacy?

Tecumseh was away when the two sides met at Tippecanoe, so his brother Tenskwatawa, a spiritual leader known as the Prophet, was in charge of the warriors.

Which candidate's 1972 slogan, 'Now More Than Ever', preceded a landslide in which he carried 49 states?

Richard Nixon resigned less than two years after that victory, undone by the Watergate break-in carried out during the campaign.

Which former Georgia governor ran for president in 1976 on the slogan 'A Leader, for a Change'?

Jimmy Carter leaned on his farming roots too, flying between campaign stops in a chartered Boeing 727 nicknamed Peanut One.

Which former vice president campaigned in 2020 on the slogan 'Build Back Better' and won the presidency?

Joe Biden kept the phrase in office as the name of his economic and infrastructure package.

Which street artist designed the red, beige and blue 'Hope' poster for the 2008 Democratic presidential campaign?

Shepard Fairey's first version carried the word 'progress' instead. The campaign worried about that word's connotations, so he changed it.

Which Arizona senator's 1964 presidential slogan told voters that in their hearts they knew he was right?

Barry Goldwater's opponents answered with parodies, the best known telling voters that in their guts they knew he was nuts.

Which 1884 Democratic candidate did Republicans taunt with the chant 'Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?'

Grover Cleveland had admitted paying support for a child born out of wedlock. After he won, Democrats capped the chant with 'Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!'

Which Labour leader's 1997 landslide campaign used D:Ream's 'Things Can Only Get Better' as its anthem?

Tony Blair's Labour adopted the dance hit as its campaign theme, which sent it back into the charts. The band had once included the physicist Brian Cox on keyboards.

The 1840s expansionist slogan 'Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!' took its numbers from which feature of the Oregon dispute?

A line of latitude at 54°40′ north marked the southern limit of Russian America, and expansionists wanted everything up to it. The border was settled at the 49th parallel instead.

A Democratic newspaper's sneer led the Whigs to hand out which drink at William Henry Harrison's 1840 rallies?

Hard cider and a log cabin were meant as an insult, a jibe that the candidate would happily retire with both. The Whigs made them the emblems of a man of the people.

Which suffragette leader founded a British women's union in 1903 under the motto 'Deeds, Not Words'?

Emmeline Pankhurst wrote that the phrase was to be the union's permanent motto, after deciding that women had to do the work themselves.

Which singer recorded his Oscar-winning song 'High Hopes' with new words for John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign?

Frank Sinatra had introduced the original a year earlier in the film A Hole in the Head, singing it with the child actor Eddie Hodges.

Which president sought re-election in 1900 with the promise of 'Four More Years of the Full Dinner Pail'?

William McKinley could point to a booming economy and a quick victory in the Spanish–American War. He won, but was shot by an anarchist six months into the new term.

Which Civil War general's 1868 campaign took its slogan, 'Let Us Have Peace', from his own acceptance letter?

Ulysses S. Grant's four words outlived the campaign: they are inscribed above the portico of his tomb in New York City.

William Jennings Bryan's 1896 campaign demanded free coinage at '16 to 1', a ratio between gold and which metal?

Silver struck into coin without limit was the cause Bryan made the theme of his campaign, arguing that the welfare of humanity was at stake. He lost that race and two more.

Which 1844 Democratic 'dark horse' did Whigs mock with a chant asking voters who he was?

James K. Polk had the last laugh: the little-known Tennessean beat the famous Henry Clay and became the first dark horse to win the presidency.

The 2014 'Better Together' campaign, chaired by Alistair Darling, urged voters to say no to what?

Scottish independence was rejected by 55.3 percent of voters after a contest against the rival Yes Scotland campaign.

In which country did the Labor Party's 1972 'It's Time' campaign end 23 years of conservative government?

Australia's Labor leader Gough Whitlam fronted the campaign, which put a chorus of celebrities on television singing a jingle of the same name.

Which campaign group's slogan in Britain's 2016 EU referendum, credited to Dominic Cummings, was 'Take Back Control'?

Vote Leave also carried a second Cummings creation: the claim that Brexit could free an extra £350 million a week for the National Health Service.

Which labor union's Spanish motto, coined by Dolores Huerta in 1972, was echoed by a 2008 presidential campaign chant?

United Farm Workers co-founder Huerta came up with the phrase during César Chávez's 25-day fast in Phoenix, Arizona.

Which first Black woman elected to Congress ran for president in 1972 as 'Unbought and Unbossed'?

Shirley Chisholm had used the phrase as the title of her 1970 autobiography, and it is inscribed on her burial vault in Buffalo, New York.

Which Republican nominee, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, ran in 2008 under the slogan 'Country First'?

John McCain had refused an early release offered by his North Vietnamese captors after his father took command of American forces in the war.

Which 1884 Republican nominee was hurt when a clergyman branded Democrats the party of 'Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion'?

James G. Blaine did not notice the anti-Catholic slur spoken at his own event, but a Democratic operative did, and the rival campaign made sure it was widely publicized.

Which Louisiana politician ran for governor in 1927 on the slogan 'Every Man a King, but No One Wears a Crown'?

Huey Long adapted the phrase from William Jennings Bryan, then reused its first four words as the title of his autobiography and of a song he co-wrote.

Which Democrat delivered his 1972 'Come Home, America' acceptance speech at three o'clock in the morning?

George McGovern lost most of his audience to the late hour: about 15 million people were still watching, down from a possible 70 million.

Which candidate made the 'Corrupt Bargain' charge the rallying cry of his victorious 1828 presidential campaign?

Andrew Jackson had won the most electoral votes in 1824, but the House chose John Quincy Adams, who then put Henry Clay in charge of the State Department.

Which newspaper editor ran for president in 1872 on the cry 'Turn the Rascals Out' and died weeks later?

Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, died 24 days after the election, before the Electoral College had cast its votes.

Which Chilean ruler lost a 1988 referendum to a 'No' campaign whose jingle promised that joy was coming?

Augusto Pinochet's own advertising team was said to hum the opposition's tune, which came with a rainbow logo standing for the parties united against him.

Which Indian prime minister fought the 1971 election on the slogan 'Garibi Hatao', meaning 'remove poverty'?

Indira Gandhi's slogan was a comeback: the opposition alliance had campaigned on a two-word call to remove her, and she swapped her own name for poverty.

Which 1940 Republican nominee, a businessman, campaigned on 'No Third Term' against a president seeking exactly that?

Wendell Willkie's side also used the line 'No Fourth Term Either'. He lost, and the president he opposed went on to win that fourth term too.

Which British prime minister told the nation in 1957 that it had 'never had it so good'?

Harold Macmillan meant the remark partly as a warning about inflation, yet it became the upbeat shorthand for his party's 1959 election campaign.

Which 1936 Republican nominee answered the New Deal with the card-table slogan 'Let's Get Another Deck'?

Alf Landon carried only Maine and Vermont, prompting the Democratic party chairman to quip: 'As Maine goes, so goes Vermont.'