Comments on: From colonies to terrorists

By: Robert Waldmann

Robert Waldmann — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 22:28:12 +0000

One thing I find interesting is that if you slide around the transition 92/93 without looking at the year itself, it is very hard to notice a change.

Clinton repeatedly used the same words “family” “freedom” that Bush Sr used. Willy was slick

By: Syd Webb

Syd Webb — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 06:37:52 +0000

Melanie wrote:

Interestingly the word Vietnam doesn’t appear until 1967 – when that war was already, to all intents and purposes, lost.

Don’t forget that Lyn Johnson’s campaign in 1964 was almost a rehash of Woody Wilson’s in 1916, “He kept us out of the war.” This may go some way to explaining the Basil Fawltysque “Don’t mention the war!” approach of the mid-60s.

By: Thompsaj

Thompsaj — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 03:57:44 +0000

One thing that I wouldn’t look for without my prejudices are trends in GWOT terms like “qaeda” “terrorists”, etc. which appear after 911, then “regimes” and “weapons” in 2002, then, a year later, Bush goes apesh*t about “saddam”, “hussein”, “weapons” and “iraq”. Also, surprising Bin Laden does not appear at all.

By: melanie

melanie — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 00:15:40 +0000

Like Andrew Reynolds, the first word I looked for was war. Only 2 speeches in 230 years!

Interestingly the word Vietnam doesn’t appear until 1967 – when that war was already, to all intents and purposes, lost.

By: Matt McIrvin

Matt McIrvin — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 18:15:15 +0000

Also, Bush has actually been stressing “terrorists” harder and harder as the years since 2001 go on; it’s a more prominent word in 2006 than it was in the speeches in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11th attacks that were all about fighting terrorists.

By: Colin Danby

Colin Danby — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 17:28:51 +0000

To flesh out John’s insight. (The ThisNation.com link they give you has full texts.)

“Economy” and “economic” emerge as terms that mean the opposite of extravagant. But the adjective “economic” crosses over first into the more contemporary meaning of the entire complex of production-distribution-consumption. A quick glance suggests the dividing line is in the 1890s:

Cleveland 1895: “steps already taken toward improving our economic and financial situation”
McKinley 1897: “solve the economic problem”
McKinley 1899: “information as to the industries and commerce of other countries … official data of an economic character”
TR 1901: “stability of our economic system”

The noun “economy” remains firmly a term for anti-extravagance until, as far as I can see, Hoover and the Depression.

Here we have Hoover using the term in the traditional sense:

Hoover 1929: “extravagance and not economy”
Hoover 1930: “Most rigid economy is therefore necessary to avoid increase in taxes”

And then:

Hoover 1931: “yet our self-contained national economy, with its matchless strength and resources”

Which seems like the first appearance of the phrase “national economy.”

“Economy” disappears altogether in FDR’s addresses for obvious reasons, until it appears in its contemporary sense in 1939

FDR 1939: “technological improvements have brought to our economy over the last twenty years”

though there is also intriguingly:
FDR 1941: “our social economy”

By: C.L. Ball

C.L. Ball — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 16:23:05 +0000

‘Family’ stops being a frequent word after the 9/11 attacks. Bush 43 uses it extensively until then.

By: Dan Kervick

Dan Kervick — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 15:24:26 +0000

The word “constitution” appears with great frequency through most of the 19th century, and then its use appears to decline sharply in the twentieth, with a symbolic flare-up in a 1913 TR speech celebrating the bold exercise of executive power.

By: Jacob Christensen » What the Presidents Said

Jacob Christensen » What the Presidents Said — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 13:19:20 +0000

[...] Quantitative content analysis can be fun: (Via Crooked Timber) – the US Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud. [...]

By: Andrew Reynolds

Andrew Reynolds — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 12:42:48 +0000

And one, sad, note – the word “war” appears in all but two – George Washington’s inaugural address and FDR’s “Program for Social Security”. So, except for one special purpose speech it has been in them all, except at the founding.
Some things (almost) never change.

By: Sean McCann

Sean McCann — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 12:41:13 +0000

“Economic” stands out for sure, as does the recent “terrorist.” I was especially struck, though, by the way “family” all of a sudden becomes a big word during the 80s and remains so through the Clinton years.

By: John Quiggin

John Quiggin — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 11:12:03 +0000

Cool indeed! Reflecting my own interests, I noticed that “Economic” gets a big run right through the 20th century, but doesn’t appear at all in the 19th.

There are a few occurrences of “economy”, but I suspect that the C19 uses are as a synonym for frugality, rather than to the reification we call “The Economy”.