“Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt”

“Blessed are the meek, foor they shall inherit the earth” is the Second Beatitude in the Gospel of St. Matthew, in the New Testament. Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) criticized his successor’s New Deal in January 1936, stating: “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”
 
The line was used by New York politician Thomas E. Dewey in 1940 and has appeared printed on bumper stickers and mugs in the 2000s.
     
 
Catholic Encyclopedia
The Eight Beatitudes
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The text of St. Matthew runs as follows:
 
. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Verse 3)
. Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land. (Verse 4)
. Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Verse 5)
. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill. (Verse 6)
. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (Verse 7)
. Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. (Verse 8)
. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Verse 9)
. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Verse 10)
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Textual criticism
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Second beatitude
Inasmuch as poverty is a state of humble subjection, the “poor in spirit”, come near to the “meek”, the subject of the second blessing. The anawim, they who humbly and meekly bend themselves down before God and man, shall “inherit the land” and possess their inheritance in peace. This is a phrase taken from Psalm 36:11, where it refers to the Promised Land of Israel, but here in the words of Christ, it is of course but a symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven, the spiritual realm of the Messiah. Not a few interpreters, however, understand “the earth”. But they overlook the original meaning of Psalm 36:11, and unless, by a far-fetched expedient, they take the earth also to be a symbol of the Messianic kingdom, it will be hard to explain the possession of the earth in a satisfactory way.
     
Wikiquote: Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (10 August 1874 – 20 October 1964) was a mining engineer, humanitarian, administrator, and the 31st President of the United States (1929-1933).
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Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.
. Address to the Nebraska Republican Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska (16 January 1936)
   
Zazzle.com
“BLESSED ARE THE YOUNG FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE NATIONAL DEBT.”
HERBERT HOOVER
bumper sticker
created by GutterRat (10/17/2008 1:54 PM)
 
17 January 1936, New York (NY) Times, “Hover’s Frm Plan as Outlined in Address to Nebraska Republicans,” pg. 10:
LINCOLN, Jan. 16.—Ex-President Hoover’s address on the agricultural policies of the New Deal here tonight was as follows:
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Moreover, about one-quarter of the $14,000,000,000 of probable increased New Deal debt will rest on the farm as a super-mortgage. Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.
 
23 April 1940, New York (NY) Times, “Dewey Is Cheered on Way to Denver” by James C. Hagerty, pg. 12:
The New Deal has given this country a new beatitude: Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt, Mr. Dewey charged.
(New York District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey—ed.)
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt
Author: Herbert Hoover
Publisher: [San Francisco, Calif.?] : Winston Network, 1984.
Edition/Format: Book : Poetry : English