Nemiah Scudder
Jul. 2nd, 2018 02:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kengrWas an important historical figure in Heinlein's "Revolt in 2100".
Robert Heinlein wrote about this in 1952, in a Postscript in Revolt in 2100:
"Could any one sect obtain a working majority at the polls and take over the country? Perhaps not – but a combination of a dynamic evangelist, television, enough money, and modern techniques of advertising and propaganda might make Billy Sunday’s efforts look like a corner store compared to Sears Roebuck. Throw in a depression for good measure, promise a material heaven here on earth, add a dash of anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Negroism, and a good large dose of anti-“furriners” in general and anti-intellectuals here at home and the result might be something quite frightening – particularly when one recalls that our voting system is such that a minority distributed as pluralities in enough states can constitute a working majority in Washington."
He was referring to how Scudder got elected President in Heinlein's "Future History". But this sounds a lot like someone we are dealing with currentl, doesn't it.
Oh yeah, for those not familiar with the politics of the 1920 & 1930s, you might want to look up William Jennings Bryan, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Father Coughlin.
There are a lot of others, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.
Robert Heinlein wrote about this in 1952, in a Postscript in Revolt in 2100:
"Could any one sect obtain a working majority at the polls and take over the country? Perhaps not – but a combination of a dynamic evangelist, television, enough money, and modern techniques of advertising and propaganda might make Billy Sunday’s efforts look like a corner store compared to Sears Roebuck. Throw in a depression for good measure, promise a material heaven here on earth, add a dash of anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Negroism, and a good large dose of anti-“furriners” in general and anti-intellectuals here at home and the result might be something quite frightening – particularly when one recalls that our voting system is such that a minority distributed as pluralities in enough states can constitute a working majority in Washington."
He was referring to how Scudder got elected President in Heinlein's "Future History". But this sounds a lot like someone we are dealing with currentl, doesn't it.
Oh yeah, for those not familiar with the politics of the 1920 & 1930s, you might want to look up William Jennings Bryan, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Father Coughlin.
There are a lot of others, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.
