Wikipedia

America First (policy)

For other uses, seeAmerica First (disambiguation).

America Firstrefers to apopulistpolitical theory in the United States that emphasizes the fundamental notion of "putting America first",which generally involves disregarding global affairs and focusing solely ondomestic policyin the United States. This generally denotes policies ofnon-interventionism,American nationalism,andprotectionisttrade policy.[1]

Political cartoon byDr. Seussderiding non-interventionism (1941)

The term was coined by PresidentWoodrow Wilson[2]in his 1916 campaign that pledged to keep America neutral inWorld War I.A more non-interventionist approach gained prominence in theinterwar period (1918–1939);it was also advocated by theAmerica First Committee,a non-interventionist pressure group against U.S. entry intoWorld War II.[3]

Decades later,Donald Trumpused the slogan in his2016 presidential campaignandpresidency(2017–2021), emphasizing the U.S.'s withdrawal from international treaties and organizations inthe administration's foreign policy.[4][5][6]Media critics have derided Trump's use of the America First policy as "America Alone".[7][8][9]

History

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Origins

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A campaign advertisement for the1927 Chicago mayoral electionsupportingWilliam Hale Thompsonbearing the phrase "America First"

As a slogan in American political discourse, "America First" originated from thenativistAmerican Partyin the 1850s.[10]The motto has been used by bothDemocraticandRepublicanpoliticians in the United States. At the outbreak ofWorld War I,PresidentWoodrow Wilsonused the slogan to define his version of neutrality, as did newspaper publisherWilliam Randolph Hearst.[11]The motto was also chosen by Republican SenatorWarren G. Hardingduring the1920 presidential election,which he won.[12]

TheKu Klux Klan(KKK) used the phrase at the organization's peak in the 1920s, when racist,xenophobicsentiment was widespread;[13][14]it informed many of their members who ran for political office.[15]TheImmigration Act of 1924sponsored byWashingtonU.S. representativeAlbert Johnsonproved to legislate xenophobia andwhite supremacy,excluding immigrants on the basis of ethnicity and national origin in an effort to preserve white racial demographics.[16]Johnson's leading role in the immigration restriction bill elicited strong support from the KKK.[17]

America First is best known as the slogan and foreign policy advocated by theAmerica First Committee,a non-interventionist pressure groupagainst the American entryintoWorld War II,which emphasizedAmerican nationalismand unilateralism in international relations. The America First Committee's membership peaked at 800,000 paying members in 450 chapters, and it popularized the slogan "America First".[3]While the America First Committee had a variety of supporters in the U.S., the movement was muddled withanti-Semiticandfascistrhetoric.[18]Notable Americans who supported "America First" causes includeElizabeth Dilling,Gerald L. K. Smith,[19][20]andCharles Lindbergh,[21]whileDr. Seussderided the policy in a number ofpolitical cartoons,linking it toNazism.[22]

In later periods, the slogan was used byPat Buchanan,who praised the non-interventionist WWII America First Committee and said "the achievements of that organization are monumental."[23]Buchanan's "call for an America First foreign policy has been compared with the America First Committee."[24]

Donald Trump

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See also:Trumpism,United States non-interventionism,andAmerican nationalism
"President Trump's Six Months of America First", a video released by theWhite House

Donald Trump,who had run against Pat Buchanan in the2000 Reform Party presidential primaries,first revived the slogan in a November 2015op-edinThe Wall Street Journal.[25]In its early going, the Trump campaign publicized an article byJeff Kuhneron theWorld Tribunepraising the candidate as a "nationalist who seeks to put America first";[26]campaign managerCorey Lewandowski(who later published a book with the title)[27]promoted Trump with the phrase;[28][29]and bothSarah Palin[30]andChris Christie[31]featured it in their endorsements of Trump. Trump later incorporated the slogan into his daily repertoire following a suggestion byDavid E. Sangerduring an interview withThe New York Timesin March 2016, borrowing it from an article that appeared earlier in the month in USA Today[32]and written by U.S. diplomatArmand Cucciniello.[33][34]In subsequent months, without referencing Pat Buchanan's prior usage or theAmerica First Committee,candidate Trump promised that "'America First' would be the major and overriding theme" of his administration, and advocated nationalist, anti-interventionist positions.[35][34]

Followinghis election to the presidency,"America First" became the officialforeign policy doctrineof theTrump administration.[36]It was a theme ofTrump's inaugural address,and aPolitico/Morning Consultpoll released on January 25, 2017, stated that 65% of Americans responded positively to President Trump's "America First" inaugural message, with 39% viewing the speech as poor.[37]

Trump embraced Americanunilateralismabroad and introduced policies aimed at undermining transnational organizations such as theEuropean Union-- often deriding them on economic terms[38][39][40][41]-- while acting or threatening to withdraw or reduce U.S. support and participation in others, includingNATO[42][40][39][41]and theUnited Nations[43][44][45][46]

Pursuing his nationalist but non-interventionist "America First" agenda, Trump withdrew (or threatened to withdraw) the United States from numerous international treaties and agreements, including theIntermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty(INF),North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA),Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP),Paris Climate Accords,and theIran nuclear deal(JCPOA)[46][44][43][47][45]

In 2017, the administration proposed afederal budget for 2018with both "Make America Great Again"and" America First "in its title, with the latter referencing its increases to military, homeland security, and veteran spending, cuts to spending that goes towards foreign countries, and 10-year objective of achieving abalanced budget.[48]

The administration branded its 2017National Security Strategyof the U.S. as "an America First National Security Strategy". The introduction to that document reads "This National Security Strategy puts America first. An America First National Security Strategy is based on American principles, a clear-eyed assessment of U.S. interests, and a determination to tackle the challenges that we face. It is a strategy of principled realism that is guided by outcomes, not ideology."[49]

Trump's use of the slogan was criticized by some for carrying comparisons to the America First Committee;[50]however, Trump denied being an isolationist, and said:

Not isolationist, I’m not isolationist, but I am ‘America First.’ So I like the expression. I’m ‘America First.’[51]

A number of scholars (such asDeborah Dash Moore), commentators (such asBill Kristol) and Jewish organizations (including theAnti-Defamation LeagueandJewish Council for Public Affairs) criticized Trump's use of the slogan because of its historical association withnativismand antisemitism.[51][52]Others have argued that Trump was never a non-interventionist.[53]Columnist Daniel Larison fromThe American Conservativewrote that "Trump was quick to denounce previous wars as disasters, but his complaint about these wars was that the U.S. wasn't 'getting' anything tangible from them. He didn't see anything wrong in attacking other countries, but lamented that the U.S. didn't 'take' their resources" and that "he never called for an end to the wars that were still ongoing, but talked only about 'winning' them."[54]

Trump's "America First" policy has been described as a major factor in the perceived increase in the international non-interventionism of the U.S. in the late 2010s, and various media critics such asThe New Yorkerhave described the policy as "America Alone".[7][8][9]

Other usage

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White nationalist commentatorNick Fuenteshas made contemporary use of the phrase, citing Trump andhis presidencyas an inspiration for the show.

In mid-2016, while running for a Louisiana Senate seat,David Duke,former Grand Wizard of the KKK, publicly claimed that he was "the first major candidate in modern times to promote the term and policy of America first"[55](although was preceded by Donald Trump).[25][33][34]

Trump's successor as U.S. president,Joe Biden,discontinued many of Trump'sCOVID-19-related "America First" policies at the beginning of his presidency, but he initially kept the Trump administration'sCOVID-19 vaccineexport ban in place.[56]As of May 2021, the U.S. had started exporting vaccines out of its borders.[57]TheU.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attackdescribedfar-rightpolitical commentatorNick Fuentesand formerIdentity Evropaleader Patrick Casey as leaders of the "America First" movement in asubpoenaissued in January 2022.[58]

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Following Trump's inauguration, the policy and its phrasing became a subject of international satire through theEvery Second Countsvideo contest inspired by Dutch comedianArjen Lubach.News satiretelevision programs initially throughout Europe, and later from around the world, comically appealed to Trump to acknowledge their own countries in light of Trump's nationalist slogan, with a narrator mimicking Trump's voice, speech patterns, and exaggerated speaking style.[59][60]Lubach's initial version, for example, ended by noting that "We totally understand it's going to be America first, but can we just say: The Netherlands second?".[61][62]

InSpike Lee's filmBlacKkKlansman(2018), David Duke and white supremacists are portrayed as repeatedly using the "America First" slogan.[63]

See also

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References

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  2. ^Rubino, Rich (January 25, 2017)."Trump Was Not First To Use The" America First "Slogan".Huffington Post.RetrievedDecember 19,2021.
  3. ^abSarles, Ruth(2003).Kauffman, Bill(ed.).A Story of America First: The Men and Women Who Opposed U.S. Intervention in World War II.Greenwood Publishing Group.ISBN978-0-275-97512-8.[page needed]
  4. ^Shapiro, Ari;Daly, Robert(January 23, 2017)."As Trump Adopts 'America First' Policy, China's Global Role Could Change".NPR.Archivedfrom the original on January 24, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 26,2017.
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  7. ^abMcTague, Tom; Nicholas, Peter (October 29, 2020)."How 'America First' Became America Alone".The Atlantic.Archivedfrom the original on November 24, 2020.RetrievedNovember 20,2020.
  8. ^abFrum, David(May 30, 2020)."Opinion: 'America First' means America alone – and in a postpandemic world, that would be disastrous".The Globe and Mail.Archivedfrom the original on November 24, 2020.RetrievedNovember 20,2020.
  9. ^abGlasser, Susan B."Under Trump," America First "Really Is Turning Out to Be America Alone".The New Yorker.Archivedfrom the original on November 25, 2020.RetrievedNovember 20,2020.
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    Dunn, Susan (April 28, 2016)."Trump's 'America First' has ugly echoes from U.S. history".CNN.Archivedfrom the original on March 6, 2017.RetrievedMarch 6,2017.Seeking to brand itself as a mainstream organization, America First struggled with the problem of the anti-Semitism of some of its leaders and many of its members.
    Powers, Richard Gid (1995).Not Without Honor: The History of American Anticommunism.Free Press.p.167.ISBN0-684-82427-2.The America First Committee and Norman Thomas's group tried to maintain their distance from anti-Semites and fascists, but the lunatic fringe of countersubversives was drawn irresistibly to them, wild for the possibility of become part of a powerful mainstream political movement.Gerald L. K. Smith,Elizabeth Dilling,Gerald B. Winrod,William Dudley Pelley,Charles Coughlin,Laura Ingalls,and all of the country's other notorious anti-Semitic anticommunist crackpots joyously raised the temperature of the debate by attacking defense preparations as Jewish inspired and Communist directed.
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  45. ^abO'Reilly, Andrew:"Trump administration withdrawing from UN Human Rights Council,"June 19, 2018,Fox News,retrieved January 19, 2024; quote:"The move... extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's" America First "policy."
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  48. ^Andrade, Juan Pablo (May 24, 2017)."Trump's budget proposal truly puts America first".The Hill.Archived fromthe originalon March 13, 2018.RetrievedMarch 13,2018.
  49. ^Trump, Donald (December 2017)."National Security Strategy of the United States of America"(PDF).trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov.Archived(PDF)from the original on January 20, 2021.RetrievedAugust 22,2021.
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  51. ^abThomas, Louisa(July 24, 2016)."America First, for Charles Lindbergh and Donald Trump".The New Yorker.Archivedfrom the original on February 2, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 2,2017.
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    Nathan-Kazis, Josh (January 20, 2017)."Trump's 'America First' Leaves Jewish Groups Hesitant".The Forward.Archivedfrom the original on January 24, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 29,2017.
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  55. ^Gorman, Michele (July 22, 2016)."Former KKK leader David Duke announces Senate bid under 'America first' slogan".Newsweek.RetrievedAugust 15,2022.
  56. ^"Joe Biden's 'America First' Vaccine Strategy".The Atlantic.February 4, 2021.Archivedfrom the original on February 5, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 6,2021.
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  58. ^Broadwater, Luke; Feuer, Alan (January 20, 2022)."House Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas White Nationalist Figures".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.RetrievedJanuary 25,2022.
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  60. ^Boyer, Lauren (January 25, 2017)."Dutch TV Show Trolls Donald Trump For 'America First' Message".U.S. News & World Report.Archivedfrom the original on January 30, 2019.RetrievedNovember 27,2019.
  61. ^"Click this page. It's Huge. Like Donalds hands. It's the funniest website in the world! Believe us!".Every Second Counts.Archivedfrom the original on February 7, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 8,2017.
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