White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had people raising their eyebrows after she claimed during a Fox News interview that President Donald Trump came up with the motto "peace through strength."
Anyone worth their salt knows the phrase has been around for a very long time—though that didn't stop Leavitt from crediting Trump anyway while discussing the U.S.' role amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.
She said:
"Nobody knows what it means to accomplish peace through strength better than President Trump. He is the one who came up with that motto and that foreign policy doctrine and he successfully implemented it in his first term. This is one of many steps he's taking to implement peace in his second term."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Leavitt could not be more wrong.
Several U.S. presidents—including George Washington and Ronald Reagan—have employed the phrase to suggest that military might can preserve peace overall. It was also used during Republican Barry Goldwater's campaign in the 1960s.
The phrase “peace through strength” traces back to the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117 to 138 AD. Known for reinforcing the empire’s borders with fortifications in what is now England, Switzerland, and Germany, Hadrian also promoted the use of auxiliary forces drawn from outside the empire to support Roman troops.
As author Elizabeth Speller notes in her book Following Hadrian, the emperor’s strategy was straightforward: “peace through strength, or failing that, peace through threat.”
Moreover, according to Google’s Ngram Viewer, the phrase “peace through strength” did not appear in American literature until 1937. Its prominence grew during the Cold War, particularly after the publication of Bernard Baruch’s 1952 book Peace Through Strength.
People were not impressed with Leavitt's claim—and quickly called her out.
Someone needs to go back to school.
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