America First
The phrase "America First" is a powerful and frequently invoked slogan in U.S. political discourse, representing a philosophy of prioritizing domestic interests above all else. This often translates into policies of non-interventionism, economic protectionism, and a strong sense of national identity. Its long and complex history stretches across different eras, revealing how its meaning and associations have evolved—and sometimes clashed—over time. The 'America First' slogan has been used by various U.S. presidents and political movements, from Woodrow Wilson's neutrality to Donald Trump's modern foreign policy shifts. Historically, the phrase has been associated with both isolationist sentiment during world wars and, controversially, with nativist, xenophobic, and antisemitic ideologies. Donald Trump's administration formalized 'America First' as its official foreign policy, leading to significant withdrawals from international agreements and a re-evaluation of global alliances.
AI Summary
The phrase "America First" is a powerful and frequently invoked slogan in U.S. political discourse, representing a philosophy of prioritizing domestic interests above all else. This often translates into policies of non-interventionism, economic protectionism, and a strong sense of national identity. Its long and complex history stretches across different eras, revealing how its meaning and associations have evolved—and sometimes clashed—over time.
- The 'America First' slogan has been used by various U.S. presidents and political movements, from Woodrow Wilson's neutrality to Donald Trump's modern foreign policy shifts.
- Historically, the phrase has been associated with both isolationist sentiment during world wars and, controversially, with nativist, xenophobic, and antisemitic ideologies.
- Donald Trump's administration formalized 'America First' as its official foreign policy, leading to significant withdrawals from international agreements and a re-evaluation of global alliances.
The Enduring Idea of 'America First'
At its core, 'America First' describes a political stance in the United States that prioritizes the nation's own interests above all others. This often translates into a set of distinct policies: a tendency towards non-interventionism in international conflicts, a strong embrace of American nationalism, and protectionist approaches to trade.
The term itself first gained significant political traction with President Woodrow Wilson in his 1916 campaign. At a time when Europe was engulfed in World War I, Wilson pledged to keep America neutral, using 'America First' to rally support for a policy of non-involvement in overseas entanglements.
From Peacetime to War: A Shifting Slogan
During the interwar period, between 1918 and 1939, a more defined non-interventionist approach grew in popularity. This sentiment culminated in the formation of the America First Committee, a powerful pressure group vehemently opposed to the U.S. entering World War II.
The slogan's roots run even deeper, tracing back to the mid-19th century and the nativist American Party of the 1850s. It has since been adopted by politicians from both Democratic and Republican parties, including Republican Senator Warren G. Harding, who successfully used it in his 1920 presidential campaign.
However, the phrase carries a more troubling past. The Ku Klux Klan, at its peak in the 1920s, also embraced 'America First' amidst widespread racist and xenophobic sentiment. This period saw the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, heavily influenced by figures like U.S. Representative Albert Johnson, which severely restricted immigration based on ethnicity and national origin, overtly aiming to preserve white racial demographics.
The America First Committee, while advocating non-intervention, also became mired in controversy. Despite attracting a massive membership of 800,000, its ranks included figures associated with anti-Semitic and fascist rhetoric. Notable supporters included Charles Lindbergh, while figures like Dr. Seuss sharply criticized the movement through political cartoons, drawing parallels to Nazism.
Decades later, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan revived the phrase, explicitly praising the WWII-era America First Committee. His call for an 'America First' foreign policy in the late 20th and early 21st centuries mirrored many of the committee's original non-interventionist stances.
Donald Trump's Reimagining of 'America First'
The slogan experienced a dramatic resurgence with Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Trump, who had once competed against Buchanan in the 2000 Reform Party primaries, began incorporating 'America First' into his rhetoric, emphasizing a nationalist, anti-interventionist platform.
Upon his election, 'America First' became the official foreign policy doctrine of the Trump administration. It was a central theme of his inaugural address, resonating positively with a significant portion of the American public who responded to its message of national priority.
Under this doctrine, the Trump administration pursued an aggressive form of American unilateralism. This involved challenging and often deriding transnational organizations like the European Union on economic grounds, and threatening to withdraw or reduce U.S. support for institutions such as NATO and the United Nations.
A hallmark of this policy was the U.S. withdrawal from numerous international treaties and agreements. These included significant pacts intended to govern nuclear arms, trade, climate change, and global diplomacy.
The shift away from these agreements represented a profound change in how the U.S. positioned itself on the world stage, signaling a move from multilateral cooperation to a more independent stance.
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Paris Climate Accords Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA)
The administration's 'America First' agenda extended to its federal budget proposals and its National Security Strategy. The 2017 strategy document explicitly stated its aim: 'This National Security Strategy puts America first. An America First National Security Strategy is based on American principles, a clear-eyed assessment of U.S. interests, and a determination to tackle the challenges that we face.'
Despite criticisms linking his use of the slogan to the historical America First Committee and its controversies, Trump often denied being an isolationist. He maintained that his approach was about prioritizing national interests, not withdrawing entirely from the world.
Many scholars and Jewish organizations, however, voiced concerns about Trump's adoption of the phrase due to its historical associations with nativism and antisemitism. Furthermore, some critics argued that Trump's policies, while nationalist, were not truly non-interventionist, pointing to his rhetoric about 'winning' wars and taking resources from other countries.
Ultimately, Trump's 'America First' policy was widely seen as a major catalyst for increased international non-interventionism by the U.S. in the late 2010s. For some, this shift led to concerns, with media critics describing the policy as an 'America Alone' approach.
Beyond Trump: Continued Resonances
The 'America First' mantra continued to appear in political discourse even after the Trump presidency. Figures like David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the KKK, claimed to be an early proponent, though Trump had preceded him in modern usage. President Joe Biden, Trump's successor, initially kept some 'America First' policies, such as COVID-19 vaccine export bans, before shifting away from them.
More recently, the phrase has been associated with far-right political commentators like Nick Fuentes and Patrick Casey, indicating its continued presence in certain political movements within the U.S.
Cultural Impact and Satire
The policy and its distinctive phrasing also found its way into popular culture. Following Trump's inauguration, a humorous international phenomenon emerged, initiated by Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach. News satire shows worldwide mimicked Trump's speaking style, comically appealing for their own countries to be considered 'second' after America.
The slogan also made its way into serious cinema, featuring prominently in Spike Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman. In the movie, white supremacists, including David Duke, are depicted repeatedly using the 'America First' slogan, highlighting its darker historical connotations.
Article
America First
A campaign advertisement for the 1927 Chicago mayoral election supporting William Hale Thompson bearing the phrase "America First"
1941 political cartoon by Dr. Seuss deriding non-interventionism
America First denotes a set of policies in the United States that emphasize taking foreign policy and domestic policy decisions which serve the interests of the United States before the interests of all other nations and peoples. This typically manifests itself in policies of non-interventionism, American nationalism, and protectionist trade policy.
The term was promoted by President Woodrow Wilson in his 1916 presidential campaign that pledged to keep America neutral in World War I. A more non-interventionist approach gained prominence in the interwar period (1918–1939); it was also advocated by the America First Committee, a non-interventionist pressure group against U.S. entry into World War II.
A century later, President Donald Trump used the slogan in his 2016 presidential campaign and presidencies (2017–2021, 2025–present), emphasizing the U.S.'s withdrawal from international treaties and organizations in the administration's foreign policy. Some media critics have derided Trump's use of the America First policy as "America Alone".
History
Origins
As a slogan in American political discourse, "America First" originated from the nativist American Party in the 1850s. The motto has been used by both Democratic and Republican politicians in the United States. At the outbreak of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson used the slogan to define his version of neutrality, as did newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. The motto was also chosen by Republican Senator Warren G. Harding during the 1920 presidential election, which he won.
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) used the phrase at the organization's peak in the 1920s, when racist, xenophobic sentiment was widespread; it informed many of their members who ran for political office. The Immigration Act of 1924, sponsored by Washington U.S. representative Albert Johnson, was a legislative expression of xenophobia. It targeted Japanese, eastern and southern European immigrants by excluding them on the basis of ethnicity and national origin in an effort to preserve the country’s existing ethnic demographics. Johnson's leading role in the immigration restriction bill elicited strong support from the KKK.
America First is best known as the slogan and foreign policy advocated by the America First Committee, a non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II, which emphasized American nationalism and unilateralism in international relations. The America First Committee's membership peaked at 800,000 paying members in 450 chapters, and it popularized the slogan "America First". While the America First Committee had a variety of supporters in the U.S., the movement was muddled with anti-Semitic and fascist rhetoric. Notable Americans who supported "America First" causes include Elizabeth Dilling, Gerald L. K. Smith, and Charles Lindbergh, while Dr. Seuss derided the policy in a number of political cartoons, linking it to Nazism.
In later periods, the slogan was used by Pat Buchanan, who praised the non-interventionist WWII America First Committee and said "the achievements of that organization are monumental." Buchanan's "call for an America First foreign policy has been compared with the America First Committee."
Donald Trump
"President Trump's Six Months of America First", a video released by the White House in 2017
Donald Trump, who had run against Pat Buchanan in the 2000 Reform Party presidential primaries, first revived the slogan in a November 2015 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. In its early going, the Trump campaign publicized an article by Jeff Kuhner on the World Tribune praising the candidate as a "nationalist who seeks to put America first"; campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (who later published a book with the title) promoted Trump with the phrase; and both Sarah Palin and Chris Christie featured it in their endorsements of Trump. Trump later incorporated the slogan into his daily repertoire following a suggestion by David E. Sanger during an interview with The New York Times in March 2016, borrowing it from an article that appeared earlier in the month in USA Today and written by U.S. diplomat Armand Cucciniello. In subsequent months, without referencing Pat Buchanan's prior usage or the America First Committee, candidate Trump promised that "'America First' would be the major and overriding theme" of his administration, and advocated nationalist, anti-interventionist positions.
Following his election to the presidency, "America First" became the official foreign policy doctrine of the Trump administration. It was a theme of Trump's inaugural address, and a Politico/Morning Consult poll released on January 25, 2017, stated that 65% of Americans responded positively to President Trump's "America First" inaugural message, with 39% viewing the speech as poor.
Trump embraced American unilateralism abroad and introduced policies aimed at undermining transnational organizations such as the European Union -- often deriding them on economic terms -- while acting or threatening to withdraw or reduce U.S. support and participation in others, including NATO and the United Nations
Pursuing his nationalist but non-interventionist "America First" agenda, Trump withdrew (or threatened to withdraw) the United States from numerous international treaties and agreements, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Paris Climate Accords, and the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA)
In 2017, the administration proposed a federal budget for 2018 with both "Make America Great Again" and "America First" in its title, with the latter referencing its increases to military, homeland security, and veteran spending, cuts to spending that goes towards foreign countries, and 10-year objective of achieving a balanced budget.
The administration branded its 2017 National Security Strategy of the U.S. as "an America First National Security Strategy". The introduction to that document reads "This National Security Strategy puts America first. An America First National Security Strategy is based on American principles, a clear-eyed assessment of U.S. interests, and a determination to tackle the challenges that we face. It is a strategy of principled realism that is guided by outcomes, not ideology."
Trump's use of the slogan was criticized by some for carrying comparisons to the America First Committee; however, Trump denied being an isolationist, and said:
Not isolationist, I’m not isolationist, but I am ‘America First.’ So I like the expression. I’m ‘America First.’
A number of scholars (such as Deborah Dash Moore), commentators (such as Bill Kristol) and Jewish organizations (including the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Council for Public Affairs) criticized Trump's use of the slogan because of its historical association with nativism and antisemitism. Others have argued that Trump was never a non-interventionist. Columnist Daniel Larison from The American Conservative wrote that "Trump was quick to denounce previous wars as disasters, but his complaint about these wars was that the U.S. wasn't 'getting' anything tangible from them. He didn't see anything wrong in attacking other countries, but lamented that the U.S. didn't 'take' their resources" and that "he never called for an end to the wars that were still ongoing, but talked only about 'winning' them."
Trump's "America First" policy has been described as a major factor in the perceived increase in the international non-interventionism of the U.S. in the late 2010s, and various media critics such as The New Yorker have described the policy as "America Alone".
Splits over usage
Some right-wing politicians and commentators split with Trump in 2025 over the definition of the term, particularly in regard to Israel.
Commentators Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson criticized Trump's support for United States strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, arguing the US should stay out of foreign conflicts. In response, Trump stated: "considering that I'm the one that developed 'America First,' and considering that the term wasn't used until I came along, I think I'm the one that decides that."
In 2025, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene opposed unconditional support for Israel and advocated for an "America only" approach. In November, Tucker Carlson characterized right-wing support for Israel as "Israel First" on his podcast. Criticisms accelerated following the start of the 2026 Iran war. Other notable conservative critics of "Israel First" Republicans have included Nick Fuentes, Joe Rogan, Megyn Kelly, Joe Kent, Candace Owens, James Fishback, and Charles Gambaro.
Other usage
Far-right activist Nick Fuentes has made extensive use of the phrase, citing Trump and his presidency as an inspiration for his live stream.
In mid-2016, while running for a Louisiana Senate seat, David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the KKK, publicly claimed that he was "the first major candidate in modern times to promote the term and policy of America first" (although was preceded by Donald Trump).
Trump's successor as U.S. president, Joe Biden, discontinued many of Trump's COVID-19-related "America First" policies at the beginning of his presidency, but he initially kept the Trump administration's COVID-19 vaccine export ban in place. As of May 2021, the U.S. had started exporting vaccines out of its borders. The U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack described far-right political activist Nick Fuentes and former Identity Evropa leader Patrick Casey as leaders of the "America First" movement in a subpoena issued in January 2022.
In popular culture
America First
Following Trump's inauguration, the policy and its phrasing became a subject of international satire through the Every Second Counts video contest inspired by Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach. News satire television programs initially throughout Europe, and later from around the world, comically appealed to Trump to acknowledge their own countries in light of Trump's nationalist slogan, with a narrator mimicking Trump's voice, speech patterns, and exaggerated speaking style. Lubach's initial version, for example, ended by noting that "We totally understand it's going to be America first, but can we just say: The Netherlands second?".
In Philip Roth's alternate history novel The Plot Against America (2004), Charles Lindbergh wins the 1940 presidential election running on an anti-interventionist policy, citing America First.
In Spike Lee's film BlacKkKlansman (2018), David Duke and white supremacists are portrayed as repeatedly using the "America First" slogan.
Criticism and Political Debate
Bipartisan criticism
Several prominent U.S. officials from both political parties have criticized aspects of the “America First” approach. Former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Mike Pompeo both described the Pentagon’s “America First” reset as a “disaster,” warning that it could put the United States at a competitive disadvantage against countries like China and Russia. Clinton also argued that focusing U.S. attention solely on the Western Hemisphere might embolden adversaries abroad, while Pompeo agreed, emphasizing that the U.S. should maintain its global influence.
This debate highlights a clear divide in U.S. politics. Supporters of the slogan argue that putting national interests first is essential to protect the country at home. Critics contend that an “America Alone” approach could isolate the United States and weaken the international partnerships and alliances that have sustained its global influence.
Challenges and strategic concerns
Analysts and policy commentators have identified several challenges associated with the doctrine. These include reduced U.S. credibility in international institutions and reduced influence in coalition diplomacy. Some observers have also noted tensions within the America First movement, as some supporters feel the administration’s words do not always align with its actions on immigration, trade, and economic policies. Together, these critiques highlight a tension between prioritizing national interests alone and maintaining the cooperative frameworks essential for U.S. leadership abroad.