While the American Dream was about opportunity, America First has historically been about protection—of borders, values, and racial identity. Long before Donald Trump made it a cornerstone of his political rhetoric, "America First" was used in the early 20th century to signal resistance to foreign entanglements and, more darkly, to reject non-white, non-Protestant, and non-"American" groups from national belonging.

The slogan gained particular prominence in the 1910s and 1920s, especially during and after World War I, when nativist and anti-immigrant sentiment soared. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan embraced "America First" as part of their campaign to enforce a vision of a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant America.

The America First Committee, founded in 1940, opposed American intervention in World War II. While it included prominent figures like Charles Lindbergh, it also attracted fascist sympathizers and anti-Semites. Lindbergh himself gave speeches blaming American Jews for pushing the country toward war.

Churchwell carefully traces how "America First" rhetoric, while sometimes framed as patriotism, has often served as a vehicle for xenophobia, racism, and isolationism. It was a cry for national purity, not inclusive democracy.

Two Myths, One Struggle

The central thesis of Behold, America is that the American Dream and America First are not separate ideologies, but two sides of the same coin. The dream promises inclusion, mobility, and aspiration; America First sets the boundaries of who is allowed to dream.

This contradiction defines much of American history. Consider the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, when massive waves of immigrants came to the U.S. seeking opportunity. For some, this was a golden age of the American Dream. For others, it was a threat to American identity, prompting calls for immigration restriction, literacy tests, and racial quotas.

Or consider the Civil Rights Movement, which demanded that the American Dream be extended to Black Americans. While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of his dream as deeply rooted in the American Dream, opponents evoked America First-style rhetoric to defend segregation and resist federal civil rights enforcement. shutdown123