Dem
51
GOP
49
Finally! Another entry in the Word Cup. We're always certain that there just isn't going to be enough news, and then our cup overfloweth. Anyhow, time for the fourth set of results. Recall that since ties are relatively common in soccer, we've decided that any matchup decided by less than 5% of the vote will count as a tie (winners in bold):
| Slogan 1 | Pct. | Slogan 2 | Pct. |
| Let Us Have Peace | 57.6% | Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa? | 42.4% |
| Let Us Have Peace | 71.4% | Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge | 28.6% |
| Let Us Have Peace | 4.5% | A New Deal for America | 95.5% |
| Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa? | 67.2% | Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge | 32.8% |
| Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa? | 6% | A New Deal for America | 94% |
| Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge | 2.8% | A New Deal for America | 97.2% |
That produces these results for Group D:
| Slogan | W | L | T |
| A New Deal for America | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Let Us Have Peace | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa? | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge | 0 | 3 | 0 |
"A New Deal for America" looks like a behemoth, while we did not imagine that "Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge" would attract so little interest. We reached out to Cal for comment, but he didn't have anything to say.
Here are reader comments on this round:
J.M. in Stamford, CT: This was easy. I've loved "Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha! Ha! Ha!" ever since I learned it in middle school social studies. Actually, it was probably from reading American Heritage's excellent illustrated U.S. history subscription series, which was sold in the supermarkets in the early 60s.
In any case it's a classic, as is the story behind it. Second? "Let Us Have Peace" for the fact that: (1) Ulysses S. Grant actually followed through on it and (2) it perfectly captures Grant's unemotional but sincere affect as a man and a general.
Third and fourth? Who cares. OK: the Coolidge one, although I insist the one in the history books—at least the ones I learned from—was "Keep Cool With Coolidge", not the wordier version you led with. At least it's a little poetic and a clever use of the name. "A New Deal For America" I wasn't even aware was FDR slogan during the election. I thought he made it up for his inaugural address, or something. And it's a little cheesy in that it tries to, once again, draw on Theodore Roosevelt's reputation to give the "lightweight" Franklin D. Roosevelt some White House cred—Theodore Roosevelt's "Square Deal" being the original article.
L.T.G. in Bexley, OH: It's hard to quarrel with your choices, but perhaps you should have put "He Kept Us Out of War" (Woodrow Wilson, 1916) ahead of "Keep Cool with Coolidge." As you wrote, Coolidge would have won decisively with a far less catchy slogan. The election of 1916, in contrast, was a nail-biter, with Charles Evans Hughes going to bed on election night thinking he'd won. Given the strength of anti-war sentiment in some parts of the U.S., it's not ridiculous to think that Wilson's slogan might have made a difference. And if so, that would be one of the great ironies of American political history, given that the U.S. declared war on Germany in 1917, the year of Wilson's second inauguration. (For my part, I think a more likely cause of Wilson's victory was Hughes's failure to meet with Hiram Johnson during a California campaign swing, but that's better reserved for a "What if" contest.)
C.L. in Boulder, CO: I'm sure that I'm not the only one who read "Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge" and thought of the U.K.'s slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On" which has lately been experiencing a rejuvenation.
D.C. in Portland, OR: The New Deal is ensconced in all our understandings of 20th century progress in America, even for those of us born thousands of miles away and decades after the slogan's creation.
For that reason it is the clear and rightful winner of the entire contest.
T.T. in Minden, LA: A New Deal for America. This is the only slogan that's not only still almost universally recognized for who said it, when, and what was meant by it, and it is also still highly relevant in American political discourse. The GOP has been trying to defeat it since 1932 and haven't succeeded yet, though they've made inroads. They're still trying mightily to undo Social Security 90 years on. Progressive Democrats are still trying to harness some of its prestige (the Green New Deal). So I'd say its impact is by far greater than any other.
S.D.R. in Raleigh, NC: Most World Cups have a "group of death," a group where at least three of the four teams truly deserve to advance but no more than two can due to the rules of the tournament. Although there's no term for it, some also have the opposite of a group of death: a group where there aren't two worthy teams, so it's guaranteed that a team that doesn't deserve to move forward will.
This set of slogans is the Word Cup equivalent of that latter type of group.
Here is the new ballot; it includes a battle of the titans that pits Abraham Lincoln against Franklin D. Roosevelt. As always, we appreciate comments. (Z)