On my Woodrow Wilson button canvas, you will see pins with the alliterative slogan “Win with Wilson” and others celebrating his first-term achievements such as an eight-hour workday for railroad workers. Many of his 1916 reelection buttons reminded voters that he kept us out of World War I: “War in Europe, Peace in America, God Bless Wilson” or “Peace and Prosperity.” To hammer home this point, the Wilson campaign chose two more slogans: “Safety First” and “America First.”
The latter is a problematic phrase. In the 1850s, the American Party or “Know Nothings” used “America First” to explain away their xenophobia, a frenzied desire to keep European Catholics and other “undesirables” out of the country. Following World War I – German U-boat attacks and the Zimmerman Telegram forced Wilson and Congress to enter the war in 1917 – “America First” became an isolationist catch phrase until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. High-profile America Firsters, Charles Lindbergh among them, defended Nazi policies and blamed Jews for Hitler’s war. “America First,” in short, stoked nativism, white supremacy, isolationism, and economic protectionism.
It is no surprise that Donald Trump resurrected the slogan “America First” during his 2016 run for president. Indeed, the first federal budget that Trump submitted to Congress was titled, “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.”
Nativism? Trump routinely demeans immigrants such as Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, and promises mass deportations. Trump and Fox commentators claim migrants “bring diseases into the country” – the exact language used against Asian American workers during the Chinese Exclusionary Acts which began in 1882. White supremacy? Racist appeals and actions are no longer coded under Trump. Nearly 90% of his first-term judicial appointments were White. Isolationism? Trump threatens NATO, bullies our allies, pulls out of international treaties, and seems willing to cede a democratic Ukraine to Vladimir Putin. Protectionism? Trump promises tariffs, including 25% on our two biggest trading partners, Canada and Mexico.
Nativism, racism, isolationism, and protectionism have hurt and stained this nation time and again. Enlightened foreign and trade policies require smart calibration to protect American interests, but this full-on charge under the banner of “America First” will be ruinous. Take history’s word for it.
