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@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar Funny you should ask.. I’m not aware of any published history regarding the phrase, but it certainly *has* a history. It was a popular proto-libertarian/pro-business slogan in the run-up to WWII. This ad, eg, is from Muncie Indiana in 1940. 
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar “America: Love it or Leave It” is all in the name of “Americanism” of course … (detail from same ad, below)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar And part of a larger campaign that summer against Fifth Column infiltrations of “un-American” ideas … (this one Sept 1940, from Austin TX)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar Going back to my notes and I think it was an American Legion campaign, in fact, but would have to confirm that. It did run in local chambers of commerce, that kind of thing.
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar I’ve just had a quick further root around and it also, as I thought it might, morphed into a patriotic slogan during the war. This from May 1942.
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 1.I did this thread in real time last night and added evidence & examples to replies that are now buried and people aren’t seeing in the thread, so I’m going to recap. This ain’t no thread of threads, mind you, but hopefully more legible. (?)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 2.Here is a provisional chronology of “America Love It or Leave It” based on some research for my book and a quick further look around newspaper archives, plus a bit from other folks. There will be more to be added.
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 3.Looks like it first gained traction as an American Legion, pro-business anti-radical, national ad campaign for “Americanism” (as defined by the AL, obv) in 1940-1941, as in thread above.
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 4.During WWII it morphed into a wartime patriotic slogan, used to sell war bonds etc. 1942-1945.
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 5.The historians among us will be shocked (SHOCKED) to learn that it revives postwar in a red-baiting context. (St Louis MO 1949)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 6.As of c. 1950 it begins to appear as a conservative bumpersticker (Terra Haute Indiana Feb 1950)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 10.By 1966, it’s being used as prowar slogan, and soon will be used against antiwar protestors. (New York Daily News May 1966)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 11.In a letter to the El Paso Times in January 1969, a certain Mrs Curtis C. Hurst fails to see where presidential politics are heading.
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 12.August 1969: “I’m A Secret Member of the John Bircher Society” reveals his support of it, as well as his inability to understand what it means to be part of a secret society (Chula Vista California)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 13.By 1972 it has become a favorite slogan of George Wallace supporters, and the so-called “New Klan” (Orlando Florida 1972)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 15.This is when that Klan photo from North Carolina in the early 1970s everyone is circulating comes from.
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 16.Some users date the Klan photo to 1971
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 17.Joe Biden will remember all this (I don’t) which will be why he said he hadn’t heard anything like Trump’s NC rally since the days of George Wallace. msnbc.com/hardball/watch…
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 18.1974 Gary Wills recalls the slogan in a column arguing against whitewashing historical memory and for America needing to be able to criticize itself (hmmm) (nationally syndicated, 1974)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 20.It was revived during the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979, used against Iranians in Massachusetts (Madison Wisconsin, Nov 1979)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 21.1983 Still being used by Texas Klansmen (Bloomington Illinois, May 1983)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 23.1988: Further memories of it in the “bumpersticker war of the 1960s” (Wilmington Delaware 1988)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 24.2002 Columnist John Young flips it and uses it to argue for inclusivity and pluralism. (Nationally syndicated 2002)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 25.2019: Trump and his supporters revive it. Seems like maybe the people around him are steeped in reactionary white nationalist codes and slogans, I dunno. 🤔
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar 26.That’s what I got. I welcome additions, especially pre-1940 examples of significance (ie gained some traction at the time, and/or was used by the Klan earlier).
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar (Tweet 22 correction: *prowar, not antiwar slogan. Anti-antiwar.)
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar I’m not sure why the links keep breaking, I was having trouble threading it. For new readers, there are 25 numbered tweets in the thread... maybe unrolling will work? Not sure what went wrong. 🧐
@KevinMKruse @SethCotlar The links in the original thread are totally borked so I’m inserting this here in hopes it will help people read it, with thanks for the assist! ...
