Throughline cover image

Becoming America

Throughline

00:00

The Problem With Presidents Referring to Their Country as America

If you look at all public speech of sitting presidents from George Washington up until McKinley, it is really hard to find a president who refers to their country as America. That's about one per decade. Teddy Roosevelt takes over and immediately, his first message to Congress, he refers to it as America and he's gone. I found a two-week period where he uses the word America more than every past president combined had.

Transcript
Play full episode

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app