1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920
Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

2
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:14,680
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

3
00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:18,000
Speaker 1: a show that wants you to learn more about history.

4
00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:22,200
Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're looking at how the

5
00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,480
Speaker 1: United States wound up being called Uncle Sam. We'll also

6
00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:29,600
Speaker 1: get to know the national symbols that Uncle Sam replaced,

7
00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,080
Speaker 1: and will explore the claim that he was actually based

8
00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:44,680
Speaker 1: on a real life person. The day was September seven,

9
00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:50,720
Speaker 1: eighteen thirteen. The Troy Post newspaper in New York made

10
00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,920
Speaker 1: the first published reference to the nickname Uncle Sam. It

11
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,360
Speaker 1: appeared in an article about the ongoing War of eighteen

12
00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,600
Speaker 1: twelve and was used to personify the United States. The

13
00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,600
Speaker 1: author referred to the name as a trendy new term

14
00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,640
Speaker 1: for the government and explained its origin, saying, quote the

15
00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,600
Speaker 1: letters U s on the government wagons, et cetera, are

16
00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,960
Speaker 1: supposed to have given rise to it. A couple of

17
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,400
Speaker 1: weeks later, a newspaper in Burlington, Vermont, also made reference

18
00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,959
Speaker 1: to the term in an article about a shortage of

19
00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,360
Speaker 1: American troops. It accounted for the low enlistment numbers by saying,

20
00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:33,000
Speaker 1: quote Uncle Sam. The now popular explication of the US

21
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 1: does not pay well. The letters U S on military

22
00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,800
Speaker 1: supplies clearly gave rise to the nickname, but many believe

23
00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:46,240
Speaker 1: Uncle Sam also had a real life counterpart. Samuel Wilson

24
00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,560
Speaker 1: was a prominent meatpacker from Troy, New York, who had

25
00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,240
Speaker 1: been contracted by the U. S. Army to supply the

26
00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:56,800
Speaker 1: troops with meat rations. His company delivered barrels of beef

27
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,320
Speaker 1: stamped with the letters US to designate them as government property.

28
00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,800
Speaker 1: According to popular legend, the men who loaded the delivery

29
00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,720
Speaker 1: wagons and even some of the soldiers who received them,

30
00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,600
Speaker 1: weren't sure what US stood for. Keep in mind that

31
00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,560
Speaker 1: the nation was still fairly young at that point, so

32
00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,480
Speaker 1: the abbreviation wouldn't have been as widely used as it

33
00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:21,720
Speaker 1: is today. The men allegedly joked that the letters must

34
00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,080
Speaker 1: stand for Uncle Sam, a reference to the well liked

35
00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:28,920
Speaker 1: and jovial Samuel Wilson, a man whose beef they were hauling.

36
00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,160
Speaker 1: The local Troy newspaper picked up on the story, and

37
00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,600
Speaker 1: the moniker quickly spread as a nickname for the US government. However,

38
00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,160
Speaker 1: it's worth noting that contemporary articles like the one in

39
00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,200
Speaker 1: the Troy Post didn't mention Samuel Wilson is the inspiration

40
00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:49,120
Speaker 1: for the name. In fact, Wilson wouldn't be publicly linked

41
00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,080
Speaker 1: to the nickname until an eighteen thirty edition of the

42
00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:56,720
Speaker 1: New York Gazette. As a result, many historians question whether

43
00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,840
Speaker 1: Samuel Wilson really had anything to do with the nickname

44
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,840
Speaker 1: at all. Either way, Uncle Sam became a well known

45
00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,799
Speaker 1: personification of the United States, though he wasn't the first one.

46
00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:12,919
Speaker 1: That honor belongs to Columbia, a female symbol usually depicted

47
00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,200
Speaker 1: in a toga and sometimes bearing a torch, kind of

48
00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,400
Speaker 1: like a precursor to Lady Liberty. You probably know Columbia

49
00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:24,200
Speaker 1: best today from the logo of Columbia Pictures, which is

50
00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,800
Speaker 1: certainly a downgrade from her original role. During the Revolutionary War,

51
00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:33,519
Speaker 1: Columbia was joined by another national icon, a lanky man

52
00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:38,160
Speaker 1: in stars and stripes clothing named Brother Jonathan. Many of

53
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,240
Speaker 1: his physical traits were later used as a starting point

54
00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,960
Speaker 1: for illustrations of Uncle Sam, though Brother Jonathan was depicted

55
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:48,760
Speaker 1: as younger and more clean shaven, so if you're keeping track,

56
00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,160
Speaker 1: Columbia's role is the symbol of the US was gradually

57
00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,880
Speaker 1: supplanted by Brother Jonathan, who was in turn replaced by

58
00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,760
Speaker 1: Uncle Sam. There was a period of time though, from

59
00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,200
Speaker 1: the early eighteen thirties to about eighteen sixty, when all

60
00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:07,280
Speaker 1: three figures were used somewhat interchangeably and sometimes even appeared

61
00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,680
Speaker 1: together in political cartoons. That finally changed in the late

62
00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,560
Speaker 1: eighteen sixties and early seventies, as Uncle Sam became the

63
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:20,039
Speaker 1: go to representative of the United States among cartoonists. This

64
00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,279
Speaker 1: was especially true of the work of Thomas Nast, the

65
00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:26,880
Speaker 1: political cartoonist credited with designing the modern look of Santa

66
00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,400
Speaker 1: Claus and the animal mascots of both the Democratic and

67
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:35,320
Speaker 1: Republican parties. Nast popularized the image of Uncle Sam during

68
00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,720
Speaker 1: the late nineteenth century and is responsible for adding many

69
00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,160
Speaker 1: of the features we associate with the character today, including

70
00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,120
Speaker 1: his pointy white beard and his star spangled suit. But

71
00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:50,279
Speaker 1: it was illustrator James Montgomery Flag who created perhaps the

72
00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:53,120
Speaker 1: best known image of Uncle Sam. You know the one,

73
00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,359
Speaker 1: The portrait of a steely eide Sam wearing a white

74
00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,320
Speaker 1: top hat and a blue suit and pointing straight ahead

75
00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,560
Speaker 1: at the viewer. The famous image first appeared on the

76
00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:07,039
Speaker 1: cover of Frank Leslie's Illustrated newspaper in nineteen sixteen under

77
00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:11,920
Speaker 1: the title what are you doing for preparedness. One year later,

78
00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,200
Speaker 1: it appeared again on a World War One recruitment poster,

79
00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,200
Speaker 1: along with the words I want you for the U. S. Army.

80
00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:24,039
Speaker 1: That publicity campaign proved so successful that the government also

81
00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,239
Speaker 1: used it as a recruitment tool during the Second World War.

82
00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,679
Speaker 1: For most people, Flagg's well known portrait and the various

83
00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,440
Speaker 1: captions assigned to it are the first thing they think

84
00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,800
Speaker 1: of when they hear the name Uncle Sam. For many, though,

85
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,520
Speaker 1: the story of Samuel Wilson is the first thing that

86
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,719
Speaker 1: comes to mind. His supposed connection to the name wasn't

87
00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,440
Speaker 1: widely circulated until after his death in eighteen fifty four,

88
00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,599
Speaker 1: but it wasn't long before the unsubstantiated story was being

89
00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,600
Speaker 1: asserted as fact all over the country. To this day,

90
00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,840
Speaker 1: the city of Troy proudly bills itself as the home

91
00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,039
Speaker 1: of Uncle Sam. And Arlington, Massachusetts, the city where Wilson

92
00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,960
Speaker 1: was born, has a memorial to its famous son in

93
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,839
Speaker 1: the town center. A bronze relief depicts the life and

94
00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,960
Speaker 1: work of Samuel Wilson, alongside a human size statue of

95
00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,159
Speaker 1: an elderly Uncle Sam, complete with his trademark tailcoat and

96
00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:24,159
Speaker 1: top hat. Public assertions like that may seem a bit unjustified,

97
00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,040
Speaker 1: considering we don't actually know if the Wilson Uncle Sam

98
00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,360
Speaker 1: connection is true, but consider this. In nineteen sixty one,

99
00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:37,480
Speaker 1: Congress adopted a resolution that officially recognized Samuel Wilson as

100
00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,719
Speaker 1: the origin of the nickname. That joint resolution reads as

101
00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:46,160
Speaker 1: follows resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives

102
00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,880
Speaker 1: that the Congress salutes Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New

103
00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:55,719
Speaker 1: York as the progenitor of America's national symbol of Uncle Sam. So,

104
00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,120
Speaker 1: whether true or not, as far as the federal government

105
00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:04,440
Speaker 1: is concerned, Ammuel Wilson is the original Uncle Sam. Although

106
00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,440
Speaker 1: the characters started out strictly as a symbol of the U.

107
00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,960
Speaker 1: S Government, Uncle Sam is now also used to represent

108
00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,480
Speaker 1: the American people and the nation as a whole. He

109
00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:18,280
Speaker 1: still pops up in plenty of political cartoons, some flattering,

110
00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,920
Speaker 1: some not, and he's often referenced at sporting events and

111
00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:26,400
Speaker 1: protest rallies both in the US and abroad. He continues

112
00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,440
Speaker 1: to be evoked as a patriotic ideal and pop culture

113
00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:33,480
Speaker 1: as well in Marvel comic books and movies. The original

114
00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:37,280
Speaker 1: Captain America's costume has the same stars and stripes motif

115
00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,760
Speaker 1: as what Uncle Sam wears, and the superhero of the

116
00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,800
Speaker 1: Falcon who later inherits the mantle of Captain America is

117
00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:51,560
Speaker 1: actually named Sammuel Wilson, and yes he's an uncle too.

118
00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,679
Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little

119
00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,760
Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. You can

120
00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,480
Speaker 1: learn and even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook,

121
00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,600
Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i h C Show, and

122
00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,360
Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to

123
00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:13,160
Speaker 1: send them my way at this Day at I heart

124
00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:17,080
Speaker 1: media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

125
00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:19,720
Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back

126
00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,360
Speaker 1: here again tomorrow for another day in History class