[Ads-l] Fascism in America

Sun Mar 31 19:48:03 UTC 2024

OED lacks the idiom, "wrap oneself in the flag."

This may not be the earliest. I only looked for two minutes. Literal here:

1863 _Missouri Republican_ (St. Louis) (Apr. 15) 2: The man who wrapped
himself in the flag I also understand to be engaged in the [liquor] traffic.

The saying alludes to such antics, formerly characteristic of extremist
politicians.

JL

On Sun, Mar 31, 2024 at 2:44 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Interesting, JL and Fred. The thread you are responding to was from
> 2012. Since that time I gathered more data and posted two pertinent
> webpages on the Quote Investigator website:
>
> When Fascism Comes To America, It Will Be Wrapped in the Flag
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/07/28/flag/
>
> Sure, We’ll Have Fascism in This Country, and We’ll Call It Anti-Fascism
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/04/anti-fascism/
>
> Garson
>
> On Sun, Mar 31, 2024 at 9:58 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > 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:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > 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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> > > >
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> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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