America is Back
"America is Back" is a catchphrase occasionally used by United States presidents and other political leaders to assert different things.
Early uses
[edit]The slogan was used during the presidency of Ronald Reagan to represent the theme of American economic recovery and Reagan invoked the phrase during his 1984 State of the Union address.[1][2] It later became a Reagan-Bush campaign motto during the 1984 U.S. presidential election.[2]
Arnold Schwarzenegger used the phrase during his speech to the 2004 Republican National Convention, declaring that "Ladies and gentlemen, America is back!"[3]
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On February 23, 2009, Susan Rice declared "America is Back" while giving an interview to NPR about her recent appointment as Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations.[4] The phrase was also used by Hillary Clinton in speeches while serving as United States Secretary of State during the presidency of Barack Obama.[4] Obama himself invoked the phrase during his 2012 State of the Union address.[5]
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump declared "we are going to show the whole world that America is Back" while speaking during a rally on September 28 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.[6] Donald Trump also used the phrase intermittently on other occasions during his presidency.[5]
Use by Joe Biden
[edit]The slogan was used during the presidency of Joe Biden[7] as a renunciation of the first presidency of Donald Trump[8] and, according to Alessandro Colombo, was "repeated by Biden almost daily during the first 100 days of his presidency".[9]
Biden also used the slogan to indicate a heightened foreign policy focus on Atlanticism.[10] According to Daniel Rueda Garrido, it positioned him "as the incarnation of America, which is held as the centre of the form of life of liberal capitalism and democracy" and "which presupposes a moment of prior retreat hinted presumably at Trump".[11]
Marc Chandler, writing in Barron's in 2021, noted that there was reason to be skeptical about the assertion "America is Back" since the "U.S. may be one election from leaving NATO and pulling out of the Paris Accord".[12]
Use by Donald Trump
[edit]During the second presidency of Donald Trump, Trump repeatedly invoked the slogan at the start of his term, including in his first address to Congress in 2025.[13]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Smith, Hedrick (January 30, 1984). "One Campaign Issue Dominates: The Leadership of Ronald Reagan". New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
- ^ a b Roberts, Robert North (2012). Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues, and Platforms. Bloomsbury. p. 18-19. ISBN 0313380937.
- ^ "Text Of Schwarzenegger's Speech". CBS News.
- ^ a b Delaunay, Jean-Claude (Fall 2015). "Review: How to Preserve Capitalist System? Review of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty". World Review of Political Economy. 6 (3): 440. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
- ^ a b Kanat, Kılıç. "An American presidential tradition: 'America is back'". setav.org. Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
- ^ "Remarks at a Rally at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa". The American Presidency Project. University of California Santa Barbara. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
- ^ Rosefielde, Steven (2022). America's Future: Biden And The Progressives. World Scientific. p. 108. ISBN 9789811252464.
- ^ Thierbach-McLean, Olga (July 2024). ""Build, Therefore, Your Own World"". Australasian Journal of American Studies. 43 (1): 41. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
- ^ Colombo, Alessandro (2022). The Great Transition. Ledizioni-Ledipublishing. p. 84. ISBN 8855266705.
- ^ Akande, Adebowale (2023). The Perils of Populism: The End of the American Century?. Springer. p. 212. ISBN 3031363434.
- ^ Garrido, Daniel Rueda (2024). Being and Power. A Phenomenological Ontology of Forms of Life. Vernon Press. p. 21. ISBN 1648898556.
- ^ Chandler, Marc (October 1, 2021). "America Has Transformed Itself Before. Can Biden Do It Again?". Barron's. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
- ^ Montanaro, Domenico (March 5, 2025). "6 takeaways from Trump's pointedly partisan address to Congress". NPR. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
Further reading
[edit]- Johnson, Richard. "What does Biden mean by 'America is back'?". Transforming Society. Bristol University Press. Retrieved March 8, 2025.