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 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 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. 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 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) 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". Commentators
Steve Bannon and
Tucker Carlson criticized Trump's support for
2025 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 and right-wing critics of "Israel First" Republicans have included
Nick Fuentes,
Joe Rogan,
Megyn Kelly,
Joe Kent,
Candace Owens,
James Fishback, and
Charles Gambaro, as well as the magazine
The American Conservative. Similarly, some liberal and left-wing outlets including
Bloomberg News,
Slate, and
HuffPost have used the term to criticize U.S. politicians for their support for Israel.
Other usage 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). 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==