[Ads-l] Fascism in America

Sun Mar 31 13:58:06 UTC 2024

Snopes too has failed to find any ex. of this in the works of Sinclair
Lewis. The earliest I've found of the more or less  precise quote is in a
letter from a reader in Grass Lake, Mich.:

2006 _Ann Arbor News_  (Feb. 6) B6 : "When fascism comes to America, it
will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." This insightful quote
is from a book written in 1935 by Sinclair Lewis entitled "It Can't Happen
Here."

(The writer believed that George W. Bush was a fascist.)

JL

On Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 12:58 AM Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Fascism in America
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks for your response, Fred. The 1944 YBQ cite for Huey Long is
> valuable. When I explored this topic previously I located some earlier
> cites for Long. However, every cite I located that credited Long
> appeared after his death on September 10, 1935. (Of course, some
> legitimate quotations do appear after death, e.g., in posthumously
> published correspondence.)
>
> Maybe some list member can help to verify this circa 1937 cite on
> paper or microfilm.
>
> Circa: 1937, The Advocate: America's Jewish journal, Volumes 93-94, GB
> and HathiTrust Page 71. [This periodical according to HathiTrust was
> called "The Reform Advocate" in 1922 and based in Chicago, Illinois]
> (Google Books snippet view; Data may be inaccurate)
>
> HathiTrust link: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015080183810
>
> [Begin extracted text]
> The late Huey Long once observed that if fascism came to America, it
> would come disguised as an anti-fascist movement. The full import of
> Long's insight has been realized in the last two weeks in the varied
> treatment accorded the anti-fascist declarations of three men
> prominent in public affairs. The men were Senator William E. Borah,
> Bishop William T. Manning, and America's ambassador to Germany,
> William E. Dodd.
> [End extracted text]
>
> Here is some evidence in October 1938.
>
> Cite: 1938 October 11, The Owosso Argus-Press, Section: Editorial, If
> Fascism Comes, Page 4, Column 1, Owosso, Michigan. (Google News
> Archive)
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Huey Long once remarked that America probably would have Fascism some
> day, but, he added, "when we get it we won't call it Fascism we'll
> call it anti-Fascism." And Huey's wise-crack is much more worth
> remembering than are the revelations of the Dies committee.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Life magazine printed a version of the quote attributed to Long in 1939.
>
> Cite: 1939 March 6, LIFE, Fascism in America: Like Communism It
> Masquerades as Americanism, Some of the Voices of Hate, Start Page 57,
> Quote Page 60, Column 1, Published by Time Inc, New York. (Google
> Books full view)
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The late Huey P. Long, who knew all the tricks of the dissembling
> demagog, was once asked: "Do you think we will ever have Fascism in
> America?"
>   Said the Kingfish: "Sure, only we'll call it anti-Fascism."
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 8:38 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Fascism in America
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > According to the Yale Book of Quotations, Bennett Cerf's book Try and
> Stop Me (1944) attributes the following to Huey Long, being asked whether
> he thought the United States would ever have fascism: "Sure we will, only
> _we'll_ call it anti-fascism!"
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> David A. Daniel [dad at POKERWIZ.COM]
> > Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 11:17 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Fascism in America
> >
> > "When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and
> carrying
> > a cross." This has been floating around the Internet lately, attributed
> to
> > Sinclair Lewis, which is apparently bogus as to the letter if not to the
> > spirit. Does anyone have more information on this? (If this is somewhere
> in
> > the archives, sorry, but I didn't find it.)
> > DAD
> >
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