40 Iconic Campaign Slogans That Carried U.S. Presidents Into Power

If you’re planning to stand as a candidate for the U.S. presidency, you’ll obviously need a snappy slogan. Ideally, it should encapsulate what you’re all about and capture the imaginations of the voters. But where do you start? Well, here’s a round-up of successful election slogans from the past – as well as a few failed ones. Read this, and you should have all the information you need to create a winning slogan.

40. William Henry Harrison – ‘Tippecanoe and Tyler, too,’ 1840

The slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too” is probably obscure to all but the keenest historians among us. Here’s the explanation: the Battle of Tippecanoe was fought in 1811 between the U.S. Army and and forces loyal to the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. The former – under the generalship of William Henry Harrison – scored a conclusive victory. He clearly wanted to emphasize this successful military past in his election campaign. Meanwhile, “Tyler” was John Tyler – Harrison’s running mate.

39. James K. Polk – ‘Reannexation of Texas and reoccupation of Oregon,’ 1844

In the 1844 election, James K. Polk’s slogan was the somewhat pedestrian, “Reannexation of Texas and reoccupation of Oregon.” It might have lacked wit, but it had the virtue of clarity. Polk was determined that Texas and Oregon should be firmly clasped by the Union. More memorable is the slogan of Polk’s opponent: Henry Clay. It was simply, “Who is James K. Polk?” For reference, this is a phrase that played on the fact that the latter was none too well known.

38. Zachary Taylor – ‘For president of the people: Zachary Taylor,’ 1848

“For president of the people: Zachary Taylor” is certainly clear in its message. But you could say that it lacks poetry. In any case, it did the trick, and Taylor was duly elected as the 12th president of the U.S. Perhaps that was because his opponent Lewis Cass had an even less inspiring slogan. His went, “The sub treasury and the tariff of ’46.”

37. Franklin Pierce – ‘We Polked you in ’44, we shall Pierce you in ’52,’ 1852

You might think Pierce’s 1852 slogan sounds vaguely indecent. But the point he was making was that the Democrat James K. Polk had won the presidency eight years earlier, and Pierce would repeat that victory for the same party. In reality, the latter did win, even though, like Polk, he was far from a household name.