Steve Benen flags this from Mitt Romney’s stump speech (emphasis added):
“There are people in this room who are informed and who care about this election, who recognize that this is a defining time for America,” he said. “We have on one side a president who wants to transform America into a European-style nation, and you have on other hand someone like myself that wants to turn around America and keep America American with the principals that made us the greatest nation on Earth. And I will do that with your help.”
“Keep America American”? Really?
Here’s the title of a pamphlet published in 1920 by the United Klans of America, as found in the catalog of Yale’s Beinecke Library:
Why you should become a klansman :
of interest to white, protestant, native born Americans who want to keep America American.
And here’s a report of a pamphlet with this title being sold in Dallas in 1950 as part of a major Klan recruiting effort — just before a series of bombings of black-owned homes.
And on the eve of World War II, a group called the American Coalition, using the slogan “Keep America American,” pressured the U.S. government not to admit Jewish refugees.
Really, Mitt? You really want to use this phrase?
(X-posted at No More Mister Nice Blog.)
I almost think “the same principals” is not a typo.
Of course, this is weak tea against Newt. I mean, who cares if we turn into a European country as long as we don’t turn into a Latin American one, right?
This is a stretch. Sorry, no sale. A 1920s slogan?
In Romney’s defense, he’s no KKKer.
On the other hand, based on the evidence Steve M. provided, this is a slogan the Klan was using in its recruitment literature in the 1950s—during Romney’s lifetime.
To me it seems like a case of there being enough remnants of Klanism floating around the Republican pool that it’s probable that some of it just “stuck” to Romney and his speechwriters.
Romney was born in 1947, so I’m pretty dubious on this one.
Steve M. linked to a source above. It’s an excerpt from Amilcar Shabazz’s 2004 book, “Advancing Democracy”, a history of the Black struggle in Texas for access to and equity within higher education.
“…in Texarkana [on July 6, 1950], the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan launched a membership drive. Roaming the streets with application forms to sign up new members, they distributed propaganda pamphlets titled ‘Why You Should Become a Klansman’. They used the generic literature produced in Atlanta, Georgia, which invited all white, Protestant, gentile, native-born Americans ‘who want to keep America American’ to pay the $10 fee and join the movement.”
Like I said, Romney’s no KKKer. But this is dog whistle-type language. It may not be as clear and obvious as, say, Ronald Reagan’s speech in support of “state’s rights” in Philadelphia, Mississippi just 16 years after the assassination of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, but it’s code language that resonates with certain audiences—including certain audiences who make up a key faction within the Republican primary electorate.
Oh I’m not denying it’s an appeal to nativism but I could buy them not knowing it was used by the KKK.
Yeah, me too. I could buy Romney not knowing it’s a Klan phrasing. I could even buy most or all of his staff not knowing it’s Klan related.
But I’d pretty much expect Romney has one or more staffers who grew up with that phrase “in the air” around him/her, and for whom it resonated then, and resonates today.
A remarkably low smear, Steve.
Congratulations.