"love it or leave it"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I see that Russell Baker reported the existence of an "America! Love It or
Leave It!" bumper sticker in NYT on Oct. 1, 1968. He thought it a novelty.

That's after the riot and (heh-heh) almost 1969.

JL


On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 3:31 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "love it or leave it"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I believe the American Legion had been a major force in popularizing
> the phrase in 1941, and continued to promote its use in the decades to
> follow, including in the early to mid-60s in support of troops in
> Vietnam.
>
> DanG
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 3:13 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "love it or leave it"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Aug 19, 2011, at 2:58 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> >> You're right about the short form, Wilson.
> >>
> >> I'm only showing that the phrase existed long before VN, FWIW, IYKWIM.
> YBQ
> >> (that's four in a row) recommends a look at earlier but far less similar
> >> words from Dorothy Parker & Gus Kahn.
> >>
> >> Also FWIW, my recollection is that "America: Love it or Leave it" came
> on
> >> the national scene only as late as 1969.  It was the same year that
> >> conservatives hijacked the American flag for their exclusive
> bumper-sticker
> >> use.
> >
> > I'd have guessed 1968, at least by the time of the Chicago Democratic
> Convention in August and the backlash against opponents of the war that
> crystallized with the widely supported "police riot" against protestors
> there.
> >
> > LH
> >
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