"Throw the Bums Out" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

The earliest political context I can find for the saying:

Mark Sullivan, "Bryan is leading convention figure"  _The Morning
Oregonian_ July 05, 1924 p 3 col 2
"As [William Jennings] Bryan expressed it, "We have improved greatly
since the democratic party decided to throw the bums out and invite the
women in." "


"Democrats in Council" _Dallas Morning News_ [reprinted from _Stockdale
Progress_] 6/4/1940 p 2 col 5
"In the last chapters we always throw the bums out, squelch the
catcallers and adopt a platform and a set of resolutions good for the
country and almost every word spelled correctly."



The 1940s see numerous examples from an organized labor context:

"10,000 MINERS QUIT TO CUT UNION DUES" _THE NEW YORK TIMES._ Sep 12,
1941; pg. 14 col 2
"Tonight, as Hugh M. Brown, president of District 7 of the U.M.W.,
attempted to address a mass meeting in a baseball park near here and to
order the men back to work, he was forced to give up by boos and jeers
and shouts of "Throw the bum out!" "

Other early political cites are labor related (1947, 1950), in which an
unliked speaker is requested to leave a gathering (as above).

James Marlow (Associated Press wire service article) "After Quiet
Beginning Campaign Getting Rough"  _Rock Hill [SC] Herald_ 9/19/1952 p
10 col 5
"Slow-starting, Eisenhower sprinted when even his own friends said he
was "running like a dry creek." Heading South, he made a series of
speeches on corruption.  Summed up, they said:  "Throw the bums out." "




Joe Davis [letter to editor] "VOICE OF THE PEOPLE" Chicago Daily
Tribune; Jul 1, 1954; pg. 16 col 6
"No rip roaring "throw the bum out" editorials."


It seemed to grow in response to Sen. Joe McCarthy -- a _Daily Worker_
headline was much quoted in the weeks following its release:
VINCENT BUTLER "Daily Worker Hails Report on McCarthy" _Chicago Daily
Tribune_ Sep 29, 1954; pg. 1 col 2
"Under the heading "Throw the Bum Out," the Worker, official organ of
the Communist party in the United States, joined other sections of the
anti-anti-communist press in lauding the report and at the same time
accused the Republican party of attempting to sweep the McCarthy issue
"under the rug for the election." "



> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
> Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 10:22 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "Throw the Bums Out" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: "Throw the Bums Out" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> Seems to have started as a chant by audiences who disapproved of
> boxing/wrestling matches, from the 1920s onward, then moved to
baseball
> (in reference to both "Dem Bums" and umpires) before it moved to
> politics.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred
> > Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 9:25 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: "Throw the Bums Out"
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> ---------------
> > --------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      "Throw the Bums Out"
> >
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > Someone asked me today about the origin of the phrase "throw the
bums
> > out."  This is an important political expression, but in a few
> minutes
> > of research I don't see it in The Yale Book of Quotations or the OED
> or
> > Safire's Political Dictionary.  I haven't yet run it through the
> > databases.  Is anyone able to supply any information about early
> uses?
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
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