In politics, it seems, bad times make good slogans. Herbert Hoover's promise of "a chicken in every pot" did not get him re-elected in 1932, but it was a far more ingenious catch phrase than the Republicans' 1944 theme, "Time for a change," or "I like Ike" in 1952. And for all John F. Kennedy's eloquence, no Democratic orator since the Depression has matched Franklin D. Roosevelt's phrasemaking prowess on behalf of "the forgotten man." Lyndon Johnson's vision of "the Great Society" is not only vague, but vieille vague as well; the term was the title of a 1914 book by British Political Psychologist Graham Wallas, and the idea is as old as Plato's Republic. Equally lackluster is Barry Goldwater's "In your heart you know he is right"—which L.B.J. could not resist parodying in his speech before the Steelworkers Union last month ("You know in your heart that I am telling you the truth").
"Word Magic." To many scholars, all slogans are bad slogans. George Mowry, dean of social sciences at U.C.L.A., argues that they "compress a lot of truth into what is basically an untruth." Indeed, for the majority of voters not inclined to analyze issues for themselves, slogans are a welcome substitute for logical argument. "Most people would rather die than think," says Bertrand Russell. "In fact, some do." Russell's own ban-the-bomb marchers, mindlessly chanting "Better Red than dead," prove his point.
Phrases such as "Peace in our time" and "Prosperity is just around the corner" invoke "word magic," as linguists call verbal formulas that promise to make dreams come true through sheer repetition. On the other hand, observes San Francisco State College's S. I. Hayakawa, a pioneering U.S. semanticist. "You don't move a mass society with a volume by Galbraith." Particularly in the U.S., as Cambridge Historian Denis Brogan has pointed out, "the evocative power of verbal symbols must not be despised, for these are and have been one of the chief means of uniting the United States and keeping it united."
The most effective political slogans are timely, yet live long beyond their time. Passing into the language, they help crystallize great issues of the past for future generations: "Give me liberty or give me death"; "Lebensraum"; "The world must be made safe for democracy"; "There'll always be an England"; "unconditional surrender"; "the Great Leap Forward"; "We shall overcome." In an increasingly complex society, as Hayakawa points out, such coinages are essential "short cuts to a consensus."