Comments on: Welcome Homeland

Question: Welcome Homeland

Packy_1962 — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:29:01 -0800

When did the Bush administration first introduce the word "homeland" into their vocabulary?

Was it first used in association with the Department of Homeland Security, or did they phase it in before that? Any relevant links would also be helpful.

By: Tacos Are Pretty Great

Tacos Are Pretty Great — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:41:23 -0800

As best as i can tell, from this site, the word was introduced on 20 Sep 2001, during the Declaration of War on Terrorism, in which he announces the Department of Homeland Security.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 19:36:38 -0800

Salon article from October, 2001

By: helios

helios — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:31:43 -0800

The earliest reference I found was a recommendation by a bipartisan congressional committee to create a "National Homeland Security Department" (Executive Summary of U.S. Commission on National Security Report) . The report is dated January 31, 2001.

By the way, I found this by searching Google Groups. It's a great tool for discovering when the first reference of a term appeared, since you can search by date range.

By: MLIS

MLIS — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:50:02 -0800

The Trouble With "Homeland"

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 22:35:42 -0800

Fascinating question...I had always wondered the same thing, since "homeland" just sounds very Third Reich-ish to me. The Jan 2001 reference is particularly interesting, as I had only ever heard it post-9/11, when it seemed to creep into the national lexicon overnight.

By: funkbrain

funkbrain — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 06:43:58 -0800

The earliest use I'm aware of was in the Hart Rudman Commission report, circa 1999.

America will become increasingly vulnerable to hostile attack on our homeland, and our military superiority will not entirely protect us.

By: bigmusic

bigmusic — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:04:13 -0800

Using homeland to refer to your country has been done for a very long time. But using it in the sense that the Bush administration does is a very recent occurance. It's the product of political marketing I'm sure.

By: bigmusic

bigmusic — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:36:11 -0800

Searching the whitehouse site, this is the earliest I can find Bush mentioning the homeland.

By: zaphod

zaphod — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 18:44:35 -0800

Hmmm, where did my comment from last night go?

I was agreeing with someone else, who stated that the word Homeland made him/her think of Nazis.