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For many years, the phrase "chicken in every pot" was attributed to President Herbert Hoover.
Did Hoover actually say something, in a speech, about there being a chicken in every pot?
The answer is no. There is no record of Herbert Hoover ever having referred to "a chicken
in every pot" in any of his speeches or writings, although many of us were taught that he coined
this phrase as part of his campaign platform, or during one of his presidential addresses.
Surprisingly, the actual origin of the phrase goes back much further, to King Henry IV of
France, making it as old as the 1500's. King Henry IV is said to have coined many a famous
phrase. Henry IV had something he called the great design for world peace, and Franklin
Roosevelt borrowed this term. And the king also said something else about chicken. I
won't attempt the French, because that would be atrocious, but you can see it written out
in the article linked here. In English, Henry IV said, "I wish that there would not be a
peasant so poor in all my realm who would not have a chicken in his pot every Sunday."
And, I have also seen a slight different version: If God keeps me, I will make sure that no
peasant in my realm will lack the means to have a chicken in the pot on Sunday! For this,
he started being called "King of the chicken in the pot." Don't get the wrong idea, though.
He meant it, and he was also called Good King Henry, and, of course, Henry the Great.
So how did Hoover get connected with the phrase, even though he seems to never to have said
it? Well, it's reemergence has been traced to a Republican campaign flyer in 1928 which
was titled "A Chicken for Every Pot." What Hoover did say, on October 22, 1928, is "The
slogan of progress is changing from the "full dinner pail" to the "full garage." Hoover's
opponent, Democratic candidate Al Smith mocked the chicken for every pot flyer in a Boston
Campaign speech, and he held it up and quoted from it, saying, "'Republican prosperity has
reduced hours and increased earning capacity.' And then it goes on to say Republican prosperity
has put a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard to boot...Here's another good
on for you. 'Republican efficiency has filled the working-mans dinner pail and his gasoline
tank besides, and placed the whole nation in the Silk stocking class'..." When he was
done with the quoting, Smith went on to make the point that the average working man could
not afford a chicken dinner every Sunday, let alone go out to get it in his car wearing
silk stockings. Later on, after Republican promises of prosperity became an embarrassment
to the party, Hoover's statement concerning a full garage, and Smith's tirade about the
flyer were conflated in such a way that Hoover was said to have promised "A chicken in every
pot and two cars in every garage." Later politicians, such as Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy,
who undoubtedly new good and well that it was a misquotation, went right ahead and repeated
it as if Hoover himself had really made the promise. Hoover's actual campaign slogans
were 'Who But Hoover?', which was his main one, and also 'Hoover and Happiness Or Smith
And Soup Houses.' Al Smith, on the other hand, had the campaign slogan of 'All for Al.' So,
you can see why Hoover won.