Promises, Promises: A History of American Campaign Promises
Alexandria, VA – Oh, promises, promises
This is where those promises, promises end,
I don’t pretend that what was wrong, can be right.
Promises, Promises – Music by Burt Bacharach; Lyrics by Hal David
Living in the Washington DC area means you simply can’t escape reality. And that means politics. Fluoride’s gone now so it’s probably politics that’s been in the water for some 250 years.
And with midterms just around the corner, it’s time for America’s biennial cascade of barn-storming, chicken dinners, cocktail functions, speechifying, and the only other thing more American than baseball – promises.
Politicians have been promising the moon for over two centuries in the USA[i] to the “electorate” (AKA “we the people”) and the list of those promises are worth an entire MBA — emphasis on Marketing, Mass Communications, and Public Relations.
Who knew that promising “no wars” or sending “our troops to fight in some foreign war” could be one of the most successful campaign slogans, only to be forgotten in the shifting sands of politics.
American politicians have been promising peace for as long as there’s been a country – at least once we got rid of King George III. After that Americans preferred to shoot at each other and not go someplace else to kick up a fuss – hence the Civil War.
President William McKinley opposed intervention in Cuba during the election of 1896 but caved to pressure after the sinking of the USS Maine in Cuba and two years later, we hopped right into the Spanish-American War.[ii]
“He kept us out of war” was the slogan that won Woodrow Wilson’s 1916 re-election bid, but a year later a German submarine sunk the RMS Lusitania with Americans embarked. Then Germany promised Mexico they would get both Arizona and New Mexico if they joined Germany against the U.S. in WW I. So, we mustered millions of “Doughboys” and sent them to France to beat the “Hun.”
President Teddy Roosevelt promised “a square deal for Americans” which sounded great, but that promise has been beaten into submission by corporations in the 21st century. In 1906 he signed the National Antiquities Act which said a President could designate big chunks of America as national parks for all to enjoy. The kicker – only Congress could reverse these presidential actions. It was a promise kept but has been choked in recent years.[iii]
Even President Franklin Roosevelt promised that we would give the allies whatever they needed to fight WW II and we wouldn’t have to send our boys. Then Pearl Harbor happened and all bets were off.
Dwight Eisenhower promised to end the Korean War. He did. Then he quietly sent “advisors” to Vietnam and we all know what happened next. Three presidents later we had 500,000 troops there, Coca-Cola, Philco TVs, and Air America.
President George H.W. Bush famously campaigned for his second term with the phrase “Read my lips – no new taxes.” That promise was a smash until Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1991 and we decided to send him back to Iraq. When the 100-hour ground war was over and it cost $102 billion, somehow the tax guys hadn’t read Bush’s lips.
My bottom line is simple – don’t believe the advertising. So, on November 3, go Vote. I can’t.[iv] Go and do what Congress, the Supreme Court, the president, lobbyists, the press, and PACs can’t control – your vote.
Go vote and finish Burt’s song:
Oh, promises, their kind of promises can just destroy a life,
Oh, promises, those kind of promises, take all the joy from life,
Oh, promises, promises, my kind of promises
Can lead to joy and hope and love
Yes, love!
[i] And by my recollection it was Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon that delivered on that promise. Ask the Apollo 11 guys.
[ii] No one knows for sure why McKinley jumped in. Some say it was because of newspaper tycoon Wiliam Randolph Hearst. When the dust settled we “annexed” Cuba and Hawaii, picked up the Philippines for a measly $20 million, and Spain even threw in Guam as a bonus. It’s what’s called a “win-win” in diplomacy today.
[iii] Some say the government taking back 3 million acres of Bears-Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante tracts in Utah was a clear case of the government being “Indian-givers.” I’m not sure that’s what they meant to say.
[iv] The tariffs really confused the postal service here in France for mail to the U.S. Later we learned that we could register and do the ballots via DHL and it would only cost us 150 Euros.
