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Home  »  Respectfully Quoted  »  William Edgar Borah (1865–1940)

Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.

 
NUMBER: 72
AUTHOR: William Edgar Borah (1865–1940)
QUOTATION: Sir, since the debate opened months ago those of us who have stood against this proposition have been taunted many times with being little Americans. Leave us the word American, keep that in your presumptuous impeachment, and no taunt can disturb us, no gibe discompose our purposes. Call us little Americans if you will, but leave us the consolation and the pride which the term American, however modified, still imparts.
ATTRIBUTION: Senator WILLIAM E. BORAH, remarks in the Senate, November 19, 1919, Congressional Record, vol. 58, p. 8783.

This speech, known as the “Little American” speech, referred to the treaty to ratify the League of Nations proposed after World War I.
SUBJECTS: American people