Political Slogans: Part One - North Carolina

The Seattle Times recently sponsored a contest in which readers submitted political slogans they thought might be effective (or at the very least, clever) for the 2008 presidential election. A few of the best offerings included:

• “When the going gets tough, the tough vote ‘present.’”
• “Country First is the next taxpayer bailout.”
• “Change I can believe in.”
• “Palin as VP should have better aim.”
• “McCain/Palin—a wing (nut) and a prayer.”

According to Wikipedia, a slogan is “a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious or other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word “slogan” is derived from "slogorn" - an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm (sluagh "army", "host" + gairm "cry"). Slogans may vary from the written and visual to the chanted and vulgar, and their simple rhetorical nature generally leaves little room for detail. As such they serve perhaps more as a social expression of a unified purpose, rather than a projection for an intended audience.

Historians generally trace the use of political slogans back at least to the presidential campaign of 1840. In their book American Political Ribbons and Ribbon Badges, 1825 to 1981, Edmund Sullivan and Roger Fischer argue that the political images used in the 1840 campaign were “the first truly successful examples of symbolism in American political popular culture.” In that campaign the Whig Party used the image of a log cabin and hard cider to tout its candidate, William Henry Harrison. The log cabin and hard cider were meant to describe Harrison as the perennial “common man,” whereas the actual truth was that Harrison was much more aristocratic than most people living in log cabins and enjoying a swig of the hard stuff.

On September 15, 2008, an exhibit called “Soapboxes and Tree Stumps: Political Campaigning in North Carolina” opened at the North Carolina Collection Gallery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. According to the Gallery’s program, the exhibition examines "100 years of political campaigning in North Carolina, focusing on significant elections from 1890 to 1990 and what they reveal about the state’s political history."  The exhibit uses broadsides, buttons, posters and photographs from the Collection to explore the changing nature of campaigning.

So how well do you remember North Carolina's races? Try your political memory by identifying the following slogans with their campaigns. Answers appear below:

Memorable North Carolina Political Slogans

1. “White Supremacy: NC Redeemed”
2. “Secession Cockade”
3. “Go Forward With Scott”
4. “Ah Lahk Ike”
5. “I’m on the Mizell Team”
6. “Will Lead the Sweep”
7. “He’s One of Us”
8. “Galifi anakis”
9. “Give’em Helms”
10. “Helms on Wheels”
11. “Right From the Start”
12. “I’m Helping North Carolina Beat Jesse Helms”
13. “New South, New Senator”
14. “Dan the Mountain Man”
15. “Vote for Lillian Woo, Woo, Woo: She’ll Work for You, You, You”
16. “He Cares About Us”
17. “Hargrove Bowle$”
18. “Super Bowles”
19. “People Before Politics”
20. “Objects in the Mirror are Closer Than They Appear”
21. “I Gave to Free Gastonia Prisoners”
22. “Smash the Gastonia Murder Frame-Up”
23. “Free the Wilmington 10, Now!”
24. “Free Joanne Little”
25. “Give’em Helms and Holshouser”
26. “Red Shirts”
27. “North Carolina, Dixie Dynamo”
28. “People’s Ticket”
29. “Solid South”
30. “Businessman Governor”
31. “Poor Boy Reynolds”
32. “Just a Country Lawyer”
33. “Branchhead Boys”
34. “Senator No”
35. “Railroad kings, bank barons and money princes”
36. “Mountain Men are Tough Men”
37. “Oldest Rat in the Democratic Barn”
38. “Little Miss Perfect”
39. “Roneyism and Cronyism”
40. “Two things I don’t understand - Electricity and Republicans.”
41. “Every man, woman and child he meets becomes his friend.”
42. “Tar Heel Fuhrer”
43. “Third Primary”
44. “New Day”
45. “Jessecrats”
46. "Where Do You Stand, Jim?"

Answers

1. "North Carolina Redeemed" refers to the effort by Democrats to break the Republican-Populist coalition primarily made up of white and African American farmers. The slogan appeared on a political badge from 1898.
2. A cockade refers to colored ribbons attached to clothing to indicate political viewpoints. An 1861 Secession Cockade proudly celebrated North Carolina’s secession from the Union.
3. This was the campaign slogan for Kerr Scott’s 1948 winning gubernatorial campaign.
4. The Southern version of the popular slogan "I Like Ike,” this slogan appeared on buttons and posters in both the 1952 and 1956 presidential campaigns of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
5. A former major league pitcher, Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell moved to Davidson County and ran for Congress after concluding his baseball career. Mizell served as a member of Congress from 1969 to 1973.
6. This was a campaign button from the North Carolina 2000 gubernatorial race between Democrat Mike Easley and Republican Richard Vinroot. Vinroot had pledged to sweep corruption out of state government. He lost the race.
7. This was a slogan used by Jesse Helms during his first run for the US Senate in 1972.
8. Democrat Nick Galifianakis, who opposed Jesse Helms in the 1972 US Senate race, split his name so it would fit on two campaign buttons. When introducing himself on the stump, Galifianakis would say, “Remember the name, ‘Galifianakis.’ It begins with ‘gal’ and ends with ‘kis.’” Some thought this was a response to the Helms slogan “He’s one of us.”
9. This slogan appeared on campaign buttons supporting Jesse Helms for the US Senate in 1972.
10. This slogan was used to describe US Senate candidate John East, who held the same conservative views as Jesse Helms. East was confined to a wheelchair.
11. This campaign slogan was used in 1984 to tout Jesse Helms for president, though Helms wasn’t running for the office.
12. This slogan was used in Harvey Gantt’s unsuccessful campaign in 1990 for the US Senate seat held by Jesse Helms.
13. A second Gantt slogan, this one from his 1996 rematch with Helms.
14. This slogan appeared in the successful 1964 gubernatorial campaign of Dan K. Moore. Moore was born in Asheville.
15. Consumer advocate Lillian Woo ran for state auditor in the 1970s. This was the title of her campaign song.
16. This slogan appeared on a bumper sticker in the 1972 campaign of Jim Holshouser. He became the first Republican governor elected in North Carolina in the twentieth century.
17. In the 1972 gubernatorial campaign, this was the spelling used by the Holshouser campaign for Hargrove "Skipper" Bowles. The Republicans had charged Bowles with “trying to buy the election.”
18. This slogan appeared on a campaign button in the 1972 gubernatorial campaign of “Skipper” Bowles.
19. Coy Privette used this slogan in his campaign for governor in the 1976 Republican primary.
20. This campaign slogan appeared on a button in the 2004 presidential campaign of John Edwards as he sought to catch up to leading Democratic candidate John Kerry.
21. A 1929 strike at textile mills in Gastonia resulted in violence and the deaths of the chief of police and two textile workers. Some of the strike leaders were sent to prison, including three women.
22. After the violence in Gastonia, workers argued that authorities had framed them and sought to discredit them by linking them with Communist agitators. While some of the imprisoned leaders were eventually released, others who were convicted chose to flee the state.
23. This slogan relates to the 1971 race riot in Wilmington. After the firebombing of a grocery store, Ben Chavis and nine others were arrested for the crime and convicted. Chavis was paroled in 1980 and in 1981, a federal appeals court overturned the convictions of the “Wilmington 10.”
24. Joanne Little was charged with killing a prison guard with an ice pick in the Beaufort County jail in 1974. For some, Little became a symbol for feminism and reform of the criminal justice system. She contended she had been sexually assaulted by the guard and was acting in self-defense. She was acquitted of the murder in 1975.
25. The Holshouser for Governor campaign used this slogan after Jesse Helms won his primary contest in 1972 and Holshouser was forced into a primary run-off with Jim Gardner.
26. In the 1898 political campaign in North Carolina an organization called the Red Shirts arose in the closing days of the campaign. Men wearing red shirts and carrying guns rode horses into black communities and Republican campaign rallies in an effort to dissuade people from voting Republican.
27. In 1963, National Geographic referred to North Carolina as the “Dixie Dynamo,” saying there seemed to be “something exciting, dynamic and somehow youthful” about the state. North Carolina proudly wore this label for many years thereafter.
28. A coalition of North Carolina voters formed to support the presidential candidacy of Andrew Jackson in 1824. The “People’s Ticket” (Jackson) swept to victory in the state by winning large margins in the western part of the state and the Sound region. The election was considered a revolt by the West and the Sound region against the wealthy plantation East.
29. The phrase “Solid South” refers to the solid electoral support the South gave Democratic candidates for president from 1877 to 1964.
30. This label was given to Gov. Luther H. Hodges, who served from 1954 to 1961. Hodges had been a businessman and is credited with being a major force in establishing the Research Triangle Park.
31. US Senator Robert Reynolds served in the Senate from 1933 to 1945. He ran as a “poor boy” in the 1932 election when he defeated Cameron Morrison.
32. This is the nickname US Senator Sam Ervin gave himself. It was often repeated during the Watergate hearings which Ervin chaired, leading Sen. Howard Baker to call Ervin “just a country lawyer with a Harvard law degree.”
33. This refers to the political organization that Kerr Scott built, beginning with the 1948 governor’s race.
34. The Raleigh News & Observer dubbed Jesse Helms “Senator No” because of the Senator’s tendency to vote “no” so often in the US Senate. He wore the label with pride.
35. In 1896, Daniel Russell became the first Republican governor in twenty years. Having a populist bent, Russell railed against “railroad kings, bank barons, and money princes” on the campaign trail.
36. These words were used in a radio ad for Jim Holshouser in the 1972 governor’s race. Holshouser is a native of Boone in Watauga County.
37. This is the self-decription of long-time Secretary of State, Thad Eure.
38. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd gave this nickname to US Senator Elizabeth Dole.
39. Gubernatorial candidate Skipper Bowles often referred to “Ronyism and Cronyism” in criticizing cronyism in the administration of Gov. Bob Scott. Ben Roney was a top political aide to Scott.
40. Former US Senator Lauch Faircloth said this prior to switching from the Democratic to the Republican parties.
41. Liberal New Dealer Ralph McDonald ran for governor in 1936. These words appeared in a newspaper ad during that campaign. McDonald lost in the Democratic primary.
42. This is a nickname Sen. Robert Reynolds acquired after saying nice things about Hitler and Mussolini.
43. The Kerr Scott organization called the 1954 US Senate race between Scott and the incumbent Alton Lennon the Third Primary. In the 1950 Senate race, Dr. Frank Porter Graham lost in a run-off to Willis Smith. Smith died in office and Lennon was appointed to replace him. Scott had supported Graham in 1950 and he thought Lennon was holding Graham’s Senate seat, won in a racist campaign, and he was determined to take it back. He did.
44. “New Day” was the catch phrase Gov. Terry Sanford gave his administration (1961-1965).
45. Former state GOP Chairman Frank Rouse coined this phrase to describe Democrats who voted for Jesse Helms. In many cases, Helms was the only Republican “Jessecrats” would support.
46. “Where Do You Stand, Jim?” was used in the 1984 Helms v. Hunt US Senate campaign, during which the Helms campaign ran a series of television ads purporting to show that Jim Hunt had taken different positions on issues at different times. The ads were meant to show that Hunt was a flip-flopper, each concluding with the phrase "Where Do You Stand, Jim?"

The “Soapboxes and Tree Stumps: Political Campaigning in North Carolina” exhibition will run until January 31, 2009 in the Louis Round Wilson Library on the campus of UNC. Admission is free. For more information and guided tours on “Soapboxes and Tree Stumps,” call 919-962-1172.

In “Political Slogans: Part Two,” we’ll take a look at notable national slogans.

Updated October 15, 2008