ABSTRACT
In early 1995 the new Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, proposed a radical retrenchment of the U.S. welfare state. Much of his argument was based on the claim that private charitable agencies were far more capable of ameliorating societal ills than was the federal government. To bolster his rhetorical point, Gingrich cited the effectiveness of Boys Town in helping troubled children. But the “Boys Town” Gingrich invoked was not the Catholic charity in Nebraska but a sentimental movie made nearly sixty years ago. While a very small proportion of the U.S. populace was familiar with the actual institution-thanks to television-most were aware of the movie and the syrupy emotions it engendered. Blithely ignoring a host of structural and brutal economic inequalities that endangered so many American children, Gingrich neatly substituted a cor ny cultural symbol for histor ical reality and subsequently attempted to build political support for his controversial welfare policy proposals. Put differently, the honorable Speaker was indulging in what can be termed “political Kitsch.”
