Smathers vs. Pepper, 1950

Bonnie Taylor-Blake taylor-blake at NC.RR.COM
Tue Sep 22 00:05:44 UTC 2009


For those interested in quotation research, here's a link to an analysis of
a campaign speech said to have been delivered by the late George Smathers in
his 1950 battle with Claude Pepper for one of Florida's seats in the U.S.
Senate:

http://spokelore.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/dirty-politics/

This not only expands on what's already known about whether Smathers used
"quasi malediction" on the stump to malign Pepper, but it also focuses on
two similar anecdotes that circulated before the emergence of the "thespian
speech."  One of these anecdotes has roots in an election contested thirty
years before Smathers and Pepper campaigned against one another.

-- Bonnie

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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