Partly in its genesis, hardly the kind of questions that arose, which for me, gave the book a kind of larger scope than i had originally intended. The quotations in the book, the slogans and catch phrases, up until 1955, were easy for me to remember. Because im a child of the 40s and thats what i learned in school. And thats how we learned history in school. Either the books we took out of the library in fourth and fifth grade or the way history was taught. But when i got to graduate school in the 60s, i discovered that some of my fellow students who were, who came from overseas, would come to me periodically and said who is this joe and why should he say it aint so . And so, i told him the story. And later, a friend of hour ours whos an immigrant doctor from south africa came to me and said why do my patients when they see me say whats up doc and laugh ma maniacally sm people who were under 30 had no idea anymore of what these slogans and catch phrases meant. Where they came from. Or why people used them. And a at that time, i decided this is a book and i should write the book. I started. A long time ago. And as i wrote one slogan and catch phrase at a time, i realized after about ten, there were a number of questions which were arising in my mind that i was going the need to answer. I was writing the history the way i wanted. Wrote in depth about it very little. The context was always more important the me than the actual facts because thats what gave rose to do the facts. But the kinds of questions that arose were questions like why is his a history important . We know its important anecdotely, but why . And that became one rabbit hole i disappeared down into for several months, until i was able to come to one kind of an answer. The second is high is American History so important to americans. American history start to get written while the revolution zboing on. Going on. Published by a woman by the name of mercy warren. Otis. Mercy otis warren, sorry. Who was very socially and politically connected in and around boston. Started putting together resource materials to write the history of the revolution while the outcome was still in doubt. She published the book much later, partly because she got, she was ill several times and several of her children died. She published it in 1805. She gave a specific reason she gave for publishing. That reason was the fragility of the nation itself. She was sure if we forgot our history, the country would begin to break up into regions and into different interests. That foreign powers would take over the country. She had to get this down because if we did not remember the history, we would lose the country itself. We tend to forget that by the time of the revolution through the end of the civil war, the country, it was amazing, serious strokes of luck if the country ever survived at all. That was another question. Why was it so important . Because they felt that if we didnt remember the history, we lose the country. People like webster and others who also were writing American History very early and websters first pages on it were 1787 were doing it for a slightly different reason and as the old sort of federalist grouch that he was, webster was already complaining that kids didnt know what we had to do to get us here and kids were a pain. And he felt it necessary to write down the history and they had to learn it if we were going to keep the country on the right track. Slightly later, another impulse was added for the writing of American History. And that was immigration. More and more immigrants came in, the sense was we had to team them not why they came, but what they came to. We had to make our history into their history, too. So very early on, history was written. Then came the third question. I wont go into it all. Why e slogans . What were they all about . It started because of the textbook writers. Education tended to be broke. Tended to be in small schoolhouses. Facts only. And a couple of smart textbook writers like hannah adams and Charles Goodrich decide eif you tell the kids stories, theyll pay more attention and in fact, thats what happened. I just wanted to read you two descriptions of bunker hill. Very short, but you can see what happened in the space of one generation when webster wrote about bunker hill. He said this. The americans stood this e severe and continual fire of small arm as and artillery with a resolution and perseverance which would not have done discrept to whole troops. They didnt return a shot until the kings forces had approached almost to the works when a most dreadful fire took place by which a number of bravest men and officers fell. It wasnt bad. But 30 years later in goodrichs textbook, this is what he wrote. General putnam told the american soldiers how to manage. Powder and wall our scarcity and you must not waste them. Dont fire until you can see the whites of their eyes. Fire low. Fire at their waistbands. You could kill a squirrel at 100 yards. Take good aim. Pick off the handsome coats. And this they did and the enemy fell by the score. Now thats how to keep control of a squirming classroom. And youll notice in the middle is the first use i could find dont fire until you can see the whites of their eyes. Thats what happened the more American History got written, the more stories got told, its during this time period that the totally forgotten patriot nathan hale was rediscovered and his words went into the textbook. So slogans started as a way of teaching history and giving a knew monic, history, but they also then became a way of remembering the lesson each one of those slogans sought to teach. Because if knowing history was going to make american citizens out of the the young and immigrants, they had to learn what values were here and each one of the show begans and catch phrases teaches either an attitude or a value that america wanted to sustain as a culture. So if you take a look at all the slogans and catch phrases in that book, and believe me, there are at least another 1600 that never made it, they form a mass the way we wish to see ourselves, the way we do see ourselves and the way we want those who come here to see th themselves, too. Thats sort of whats behind the book. So, thats it. Thank you. Speaking of history, we just had some, we are less than 24 hours past the election of barack obama. Long campaign. Lots of words. What was the slogan sm. Well, sibs since the slogans like history, are never written by the losers, nation first or Country First is not going to be one of the survivors. Drill baby drill might be. I suppose. Although i dont think governor palin realized its a play on burn baby burn. One that i thought was going to last and might get lost was yes, we can. Its a part of the childrens book, the little engine that could, but it also picks up on the repetition of the optimism that is basic in American Life and you can see any number of, its the same idea as tomorrows another day. It was dropped as soon as barack obama was clearly going to make it, but he brought it back last night and in a very, very interesting way. I think of american cultural life as what i call referential. Every time we get into a crisis or theres a moechment of tensi we reach back, we reach, you can see it and you saw it last night in Barack Obamas speech. He didnt say what a wonderful thing it was. What he did is put it in the context of American History. Using that figure, of that 106yearold woman and in that was punk waited with yes, we can. When we talked last week, yes, we can, wasnt very much in evidence. At what point do you know whether a slogan is going to be a slogan . Im thinking of the revolutionary war slogans and stories about the founders, that the book tell us didnt really get put in place until 18 30rks 1840, after their lifetimes. When will we know that yes we can made it . Well was 1630 and then disappeared from sight but everybody from academics until 1963. Over 1960. When jack kennedy used the quote in a speech in massachusetts to the general core of massachusetts but not really noticed outside of massachusetts, it was brought the fact to prominence by reagan, who added the word shining. It will be a shining city on a hill and decided that governor w winthrup was one of the first fighting men and Roger Williams and everybody else could go to rhode island but couldnt stay with him. But so, theres a slogan that was created in a sense by reagan and it took 300 years to get it done. Slogans come and go. I doubt if theres 10 of the people know what millions for defense but not a penny for tribute. Where that comes from or why it comes from there. It was once an extremely important slogan. Tipper canoe and tyler too survived. Turns out hes the first line of wig song during the election. But the other great slogan is harrison, roast beef, for 2 a day, which never really made it. So, slogans come and go, the ones that have come closest to the core value that is we wish to transmit or the core sentiments that we want to remember are the ones that survived. Af dream will never disappear. Because it like yes we can, tomorrows another day, are the europeans always talk about those americans, those americans, theyre always optimistic. Its true. You look back in culture at one of the most basic elements of our culture is the basic opt michigan ocht michigan m and its really the core of say it aint so because of this news boy, who probably never existed, but the news boy saying, say it aint so, is crushed because he was he believed so badly. So i have no idea and if i could predict the future, i wouldnt buy convertible. And that might be a slogan. Well see. You take us from city on a hill, 1630, forward to Ronald Reagan, 1987. Tear down this wall. And after that. Well, its not fair because my publishers say you have x number of words. Ran out of pages. It also had to do with my feelings after 87 was more journalism than it was history and it was really problematic. But there are a number of things from wheres the beef to mission accomplished, which i suspect will be remembered for its not for the slogan, but for the national what it now evokes, which is humorous. But that one, make my day. Read my lips. No new taxes. Some of those are so particular that they probably wont survive. Where as no taxation without representation, which as i can tell, was not started and certainly not repeated in the textbooks until after the civil war, survived because of another core value, which is we dont like taxes very much. From another perspective, it actually appears on the d. C. License plate. Right. Official tag line. Not an add on. Every d. C. License plate. Local meanings. I thought about more recent slogans. You have an interesting idea in the book. You talk about the way slogans emerge together with mass media and newspapers play a role. You suggested also, that president ial campaigns are actually an earlier form of mass media. And id like to explore that, but i wanted to ask, also, conventional wisdom is that we are now beyond the age of mass media. Or the age of the internet. What happens to slogans when thats the case . Im not sure. The internet is not a form of mass media, mass communications. Its so individualizing. And its segment iing the publi that it split rs it apart. There are events, political collections still bring us together. I dont know if theres enough groups to sort of meld them back together or not. It also brings them at such a speed then eats them alive so quickly, that not much gets remembered. The only slogan i could ever think of that came out of the internet was you have mail. And thats only for aol, which is a quickly dying service. So, i dont know. What happens if you have, its interesting, political campaigns, the second oldest. I think textbooks were the first form, but the second is political campaigns. Newspapers only come third. So, political campaigns, our third favorite past time because the country participates as a whole, not necessarily always in favor. But we participate. Does that mean they only take hold when they apply to the culture . Vietnam war was a farm of communication in which everybody took part. Whether you were or stayed here. Gave birth to two important slogans. One is hell no, we dont go. And the second is my country or our country love it or leave it. Both those slogans survived. Both evoke Important Message for the culture. And they both existed to the divide the country and to a large extent, still do, because we have not come to terms with that event. So, they dont necessarily unite. They dont provoke thought, but they doll allegiance and emotion and the debate over abortion is the same thing. If you use the word slogan, what, they probably talk about advertising yet in the book, you only write about one advertising slogan. Which you had the advantage ott allowing me to not only talk about the advertising business and its ability to subvert almost any cultural trend it 2350i7 finds, but also to talk about the womens liberation movement. And its an interesting slogan because it was one that was welcomed by womens liberation movement. I dont deal with advertising slogans. When it disappeared, when they survive like wheres the beef, they survive because they awoken. They could be used for a lot of situations. It was used immediately in political debates but i think thats going away, too. Which twin and i wonder where the yellow went arent probably going to be remembered a lot longer. Particularly once i die. Manufactured slogans are generally obvious. And dont work very well. People who complain to me about kwanza, its a made up holiday. Well, christmas, there wasnt christmas ever. You know. All holidays with all, ever. All holidays are created by somebody. All slogans are created by somebody and the question becomes how long how long they last and do they arise out of something organic in the situation or the time. The one slogan to me that i wouldnt use because i swear it was made up by a Public Relations department at nasa this is one small step for man. When i was getting out of a rocket ship on the moon i would say, wow, what a view i wouldnt say this is it never quite made sense to me. [ laughter ] anyway. I forget where we started with that question. And this is off topic. Do people in fact complain to you about kwanzaa . And why is that . Yes. [ laughter ] i dont know why they do. But you can always here comments about kwanzaa, about any new holiday. Now, of course, as somebody who worked in Public Relations and participated in the birth of mothersinlaw day, i have no right to complain about anything. But mothersinlaw day went back to where it came from and we went on. [ laughter ] back on point. Downtown from here, probably right at this hour, there are lots of people locked in Conference Rooms trying to come up with slogans and tag lines and other memorable phrases. Are you saying that they cant or that they have to be lucky . I think in part they have to be lucky. If theyre successful, theyre often successful for reasons that their client would rather they werent because the slogan will get remembered and the product will be forgotten. For example . Youve come a long way, baby. Under a certain age, people will not know thats a cigarette commercial. And it then actually became more emblematic of the Womens Movement than it became of cigarettes. So if you get lucky, you may be lucky for the wrong reasons. Because those all slogans are meant to make you do something. Okay, theyre a battle cry. Dont shoot before you see the whites of their eyes, or remember the alamo. But if you have a product commercial, what youre supposed to do is go buy it. That doesnt tend to get remembered very long. You just touched on this and you discuss in the book the difference between a slogan and a catchphrase. What is the difference . Well, slogans are battle cries that make you do something, they either explicitly or implicitly tippecanoe and tyler too is an implicit one. Catchphrases come out of Popular Culture and are more reflective of a dominant and proved way of seeing life. For example, nice guys finish last is a perfect reflection of something we rather didnt believe but probably do at heart and its our belief that there are real costs to success. Frankly, my dear, i dont give a damn is a reflection of how frustrated people can feel and the always optimistic reply after clark slammed the door was, tomorrow is another day. Which is the sort of well just keep going. But catchphrases then arent asking you to do anything, but its saying, this is the way we feel. This is how we feel here. And it covers a wide variety of subjects, often takes opposite point of views as most folk wisdom does. But theyre not telling this is just saying this is how we feel. And catchphrases last as long as the feeling lasts. When it stops, the catchphrase dies. You talked a bit before about conflict and about catchphrases, slogans being used to divide. Weve also talked a lot about the history that gets written by the winners. Any examples of catchphrases being used by the losers or by the not yet winners, by the oppressed, by those who are fighting for power . Slogans that people remember . There are plenty of dead slogans. This one is written by a Pr Department for the white house in jerry fords time. Those of you who might remember whip inflation now or w. I. N. , he couldnt get that part of his administration correct. That came and went with incredible speed. Keep cool can coolidge is not generally remembered or win with wilke because they lost. There are many slogans which are still current in Ethnic Community or in a smaller segment that were just not generally aware of because they never became generalized. Those are slogans which tried to be im not a crook certainly was there. But im not a crook is like mission accomplished. Its one of the slogans that characterize an era or a person and im sure that the people involved would rather they didnt remember them. Theres the subgroup of really snarky slogans there are many. And the one which has lasted the longest, and you and i have talked about this, is the one which is deliberately not in the book, probably not slowliolely american. The only good x, you put your own noun there, is a dead x. It will probably only be with us partly because the function of history is to say who we are. Who are we as opposed to them . Were the people who did x, y and z. Were the people who did or believed x, y and z. And the only good is a dead is a perfect example of whos part of we and who isnt. Its the quick and the dead. Weve talked a lot and you write about slogans in American History. What about overseas . Do other cultures do this or dont they need