How Much Do You Know About Presidential Campaign Slogans?

1. Harry S. Truman’s campaign slogan in 1948 was:

a) “I’m Just Wild About Harry
b) “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry”
c) “Pour It On ‘Em, Harry”
d) All of the above

Answer: All of the above. The first was derived from a popular song written in 1921 by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake; the second echoed the spontaneous cries of delegates during Truman’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia; the third originated with his increasingly large and enthusiastic crowds in the run-up to the election.

 

2. Abraham Lincoln ran for reelection in 1864 with the slogan:

a) “Vote Yourself a Farm”
b) “Don’t Swap Horses in the Middle of a Stream”
c) “Union and Freedom”
d) “Clear the Track for Honest Abe”

Answer: B. In this especially nasty contest against Democrat George B. McClellan, Lincoln’s campaign slogan aimed for the high ground, reminding voters that they shouldn’t change leaders in the middle of a civil war.

 

3. Who channeled Abraham Lincoln with his reelection slogan “Don’t Swap Horses in Midstream”?

a) Theodore Roosevelt, in 1904, making his case for four more years to conserve natural resources, control corporations and protect consumers
b) Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1944, with the nation three years into World War II
c) Lyndon Johnson, in 1964, during the early days of the Vietnam War and domestic social unrest
d) Bill Clinton, in 1996, as U.S. economic expansion continued

Answer: B. Even though his health was waning, FDR felt that he had no choice but to run for an unprecedented fourth term.

 

4. Whose military nickname became part of his political battle cry?

a) Former Army Major Gen. Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson, in 1824
b) Former Army Major Gen. William Henry “Old Tippecanoe” Harrison, in 1840
c) Former Army Major Gen. Zachary “Old Rough and Ready” Taylor, in 1848
d) Former Army Brigadier Gen. Franklin “Young Hickory of the Granite Hills” Pierce, in 1852

Answer: B. The slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” derives from the Whig candidate’s leadership at a famous 1811 battle with Native Americans and the name of his running mate, John Tyler.

 

5. Which candidate’s slogan did the Democrats parody with “In Your Guts You Know He’s Nuts”?

a) Herbert Hoover, in 1932
b) Barry Goldwater, in 1964
c) Richard M. Nixon, in 1972
d) Gerald Ford, in 1976

Answer: B. Taking aim at his slogan, “In Your Heart You Know He’s Right,” the Democrats lambasted Goldwater on many fronts, from his statements on the use of nuclear weapons to his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

 

6. Complete the slogan of the first Republican presidential candidate: “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Speech, Free Men, _________.”

a) Free Religion
b) Free Representation
c) Frémont
d) Freedonia

Answer: C. The Republicans became a national party in 1856 with John C. Frémont at the top of the ticket. He drew only 33 percent of the vote in a three-way race, but in 1860 the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln for president and won the White House.

 

7. What Republican candidate promised Americans “A Full Dinner Pail”?

a) Ulysses S. Grant, in 1872, holding out hope during the economic crisis known as the Long Depression
b) William McKinley, in 1900, touting recovery from the Panic of 1893
c) Herbert Hoover, in 1928, celebrating the Roaring Twenties
d) Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1932, promising deliverance from the Great Depression

Answer: B. The United States had pulled out of a serious depression in McKinley’s first term, and so Republicans built the president’s reelection campaign around the nation’s newfound prosperity, taking care to position their party as a friend of working-class Americans.

 

8. Who promised Americans “a return to normalcy”?

a) Grover Cleveland, in 1892, four years after Benjamin Harrison turned him out of office
b) Warren G. Harding, in 1920, in the aftermath of WWI
c) Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, a year after he assumed the presidency following the sudden death of scandal-plagued Warren G. Harding
d) Herbert Hoover, in 1932, with unemployment at 25 percent during the Great Depression

Answer: B. Harding, who was given to grandiloquence, reintroduced the virtually obsolete word “normalcy” in a speech: “America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy.”

 

9. Whose campaign slogan was “Let’s Get Another Deck”?

a) Alton B. Parker, in a shot at Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal in 1904
b) Alfred M. Landon, in a shot at Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1936
c) Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a call to renew his New Deal in 1936
d) Thomas E. Dewey, in a sly reference to Harry S. Truman’s fondness for poker in 1948

Answer: B. FDR won the most lopsided electoral college vote since 1820.

 

10. Who used the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War”?

a) Andrew Jackson, in 1832, after brief combat with Native Americans and Sumatrans
b) James Buchanan, in 1860, as tensions between northern states and southern states escalated
c) Woodrow Wilson, in 1916, as World War I consumed Europe
d) Ronald Reagan, in 1984, almost four years after Iran released American hostages

Answer: C. Meeting at their national convention in St. Louis, the proudly pacifist Democrats renominated President Wilson on the first ballot and adopted this as their campaign slogan. Ironically, Wilson reversed course five months after his reelection and sent U.S. troops to France.

 

Bonus Question: Who used the slogan “They Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dawg Around”?

a) House Speaker Champ Clark of Missouri, running for the Democratic presidential nomination 1912
b) Eugene V. Debs of Indiana, running as the nominee of the Socialist Party in 1912
c) Parley P. Christensen of Utah, running as the nominee of the Farmer-Labor Party in 1920
d) Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr., of Wisconsin, running as the nominee of the Progressive Party in 1924

Answer: A. Clark adapted a Missouri folk song (“Every time I come to town/The boys keep kickin my dawg aroun’/Makes no diff’rence if he is a houn’/They gotta quit kickin’ my dawg around”) as the signature tune of his 1912 presidential campaign. According to the Office of the Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives, the press interpreted the song’s refrain “as alternately an expression of Clark’s support of the humblest citizens (a hound being considered a lowly breed) and as an example of his lack of education and rough ‘Western’ manners.”

 

A slightly shorter version of this article was originally published on September 20, 2012, on the AARP website (AARP.org).

Abraham Lincoln Alf Landon Alfred M. Landon Barry Goldwater Campaign Slogans Champ Clark Eubie Blake FDR Franklin D. Roosevelt Free Labor Free Men Free Soil Free Speech Frémont George B. McClellan Harry S. Truman John Tyler Noble Sissle Warren G. Harding William Henry Harrison William McKinley Woodrow Wilson