Post by BBQ Butcher on Jan 10, 2015 6:26:18 GMT -5
"A Chicken in Every Pot"
This famous USA political campaign slogan originated in 16th century France. It is attributed to Henri IV. The promise remains constant. Prosperity means having the pleasure of good food in sufficient quantity. This phrase was revived in the 1928 USA presidential campaign. Although it is attributed to Herbert Hoover, this candidate never made this specific promise. It was a slogan created and promoted by his party.
Why the chicken?
In Henri IV's time, any kind of a meat was considered luxury. Before modern poultry methods raising rendered fowl inexpensive, chickens were prized for their eggs. Tough old hens were consumed when they ceased production. Only the wealthiest people could afford the luxury of consuming tender young chickens. A survey of historic USA prices confirms chickens were generally more expensive than beef and pork through World War II. A Sunday Chicken Dinner was very much a prized family event.
Phrase origin & evolution
"King Henry IV of France (1553-1610) was the champion phrasemaker of his era...as a result of his statement "Je vieux qu'il n'y ait si pauvre paysan en mon royaume qui'il n'ait tous les diamances sa poule au pot' ('I wish that there would not be as peasant so poor in ally my realm who would not have a chicken in his pot every Sunday'), he was given the sobriquet of le Roi de al poule au pot ('King of the chicken in the pot'). Herbert Hoover never said or quoted it. What he did say, on October 22, 1928, was 'The slogan of progress is changing from the 'Full Dinner Pail' to the full garage.' The former president's secretary wrote to quotation-etymologist George Seldes in 1958: 'No one has ever been able to find, in Mr. Hoover's speeches or writings, of which a very careful file has been kept over the years, the expression 'a chicken in every pot.' Mr. Hoover also never promised or even expressed his hope of two cars in every garage.' The repopularization of the phrase, and Hoover's supposed connection with it, can be traced to a republican campaign flyer of 1928 titled 'A Chicken in Every Pot.' Democratic candidate Al Smith, in a Boston campaign speech, held up the flyer and quoted from it: 'Republican prosperity has reduced hours and increased earning capacity.' And then it goes on to say Republican prosperity has put a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard to boot...'By 1932, reminders of promises of prosperity were particularly embarrassing to Republicans...FDR loved the misquotation and never let it go...In 1960 John F. Kennedy misquoted the phony quotation in Bristol, Tennessee...'Two chickens for every pot.'"
---Safire's Political Dictionary, William Safire, updated and expanded edition [Oxford University Press:New York] 2008 (p. 115)
[NOTE: The Hoover Presidential Archives and Museum confirms this quote is erroneously attributed to candidate Hoover ] ?
This famous USA political campaign slogan originated in 16th century France. It is attributed to Henri IV. The promise remains constant. Prosperity means having the pleasure of good food in sufficient quantity. This phrase was revived in the 1928 USA presidential campaign. Although it is attributed to Herbert Hoover, this candidate never made this specific promise. It was a slogan created and promoted by his party.
Why the chicken?
In Henri IV's time, any kind of a meat was considered luxury. Before modern poultry methods raising rendered fowl inexpensive, chickens were prized for their eggs. Tough old hens were consumed when they ceased production. Only the wealthiest people could afford the luxury of consuming tender young chickens. A survey of historic USA prices confirms chickens were generally more expensive than beef and pork through World War II. A Sunday Chicken Dinner was very much a prized family event.
Phrase origin & evolution
"King Henry IV of France (1553-1610) was the champion phrasemaker of his era...as a result of his statement "Je vieux qu'il n'y ait si pauvre paysan en mon royaume qui'il n'ait tous les diamances sa poule au pot' ('I wish that there would not be as peasant so poor in ally my realm who would not have a chicken in his pot every Sunday'), he was given the sobriquet of le Roi de al poule au pot ('King of the chicken in the pot'). Herbert Hoover never said or quoted it. What he did say, on October 22, 1928, was 'The slogan of progress is changing from the 'Full Dinner Pail' to the full garage.' The former president's secretary wrote to quotation-etymologist George Seldes in 1958: 'No one has ever been able to find, in Mr. Hoover's speeches or writings, of which a very careful file has been kept over the years, the expression 'a chicken in every pot.' Mr. Hoover also never promised or even expressed his hope of two cars in every garage.' The repopularization of the phrase, and Hoover's supposed connection with it, can be traced to a republican campaign flyer of 1928 titled 'A Chicken in Every Pot.' Democratic candidate Al Smith, in a Boston campaign speech, held up the flyer and quoted from it: 'Republican prosperity has reduced hours and increased earning capacity.' And then it goes on to say Republican prosperity has put a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard to boot...'By 1932, reminders of promises of prosperity were particularly embarrassing to Republicans...FDR loved the misquotation and never let it go...In 1960 John F. Kennedy misquoted the phony quotation in Bristol, Tennessee...'Two chickens for every pot.'"
---Safire's Political Dictionary, William Safire, updated and expanded edition [Oxford University Press:New York] 2008 (p. 115)
[NOTE: The Hoover Presidential Archives and Museum confirms this quote is erroneously attributed to candidate Hoover ] ?