Skirmishes erupted over whether French fries, museums, and even the very building to replace the World Trade Center should now have freedom implanted in their monikers. In the course of enshrining freedom at the center of American foreign policy, Bush also opened a new front in the never-ending American culture war-that battle between Manichaean moralizers and spineless relativists, to borrow the dueling caricatures. Our “ultimate goal,” he announced, was “ending tyranny in our world.” By the time Bush delivered his second inaugural address, this reasoning had bloated into grand strategy. The attacks were the opening salvo in a long war between forces of “freedom and fear.” Freedom was the reason we were attacked-and only the march of global freedom could vanquish the perpetrators. But Bush didn’t just deploy freedom as rhetoric. Any president assigned to reassure the country would have invoked freedom with Bush’s frequency and intensity. We barely knew the name of our enemy and hardly possessed the intellectual equipment to explain why that enemy hated us. Bush appeared before Congress on September 20, he faced a void. Federal France-Bashing Standards & Guidelines ( ) - From parody web site (not ).When George W.See also: Anti-French sentiment in the United States, Newspeak Previous attempts to rename food during wartime have been largely unsuccessful, with one notable exception being the change of frankfurter to hot dog during World War II, although frankfurter is still recognized, but not commonly used. Many Americans refer to french fries simply as fries, so the leading adjective is largely ignored anyway. This food, too, is affected by the renaming, and is now being called 'freedom toast.'ĭespite the symbolic change, it is unlikely to take hold in any meaningful way. Prior to World War I, Americans widely referred to french toast as German toast.

(Even the German measles got a new name: liberty measles.) This similarity is intentional: Rowland described a conversation about these renamed foods during World War I as the inspiration for 'freedom fries.'

The word play is reminiscent of anti-German sentiment during the First World War in which sauerkraut was renamed liberty cabbage, hamburgers were transformed into liberty steaks, and the German Ocean became the North Sea. Many of Rowland's customers were among the local military troops. Neal Rowland, owner of a privately owned fast-food restaurant Cubbie's in Beaufort, North Carolina, decided to sell his fried potato strips under the name 'freedom fries.' Rowland claimed that his intent was not to slight the French people, but to be patriotic and support President George W. A number of private restaurants across the country started the renaming movement. The statement further read: 'This action today is a small, but symbolic, effort to show the strong displeasure many on Capitol Hill have with our so-called ally, France.'Ĭongressmen Ney and Jones, however, were not the first to re-name french fries as freedom fries. Throughout the international debates prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, France has expressed opposition to the US insistence on military action.Īccording to a statement released by Ney, this move was a symbolic effort to express displeasure with France's 'continued refusal to stand with their U.S. This action was carried out without a congressional vote, under the authority of Congressman Ney's position as Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, which oversees restaurant operations in the house. House cafeterias were ordered to re-name french fries as 'freedom fries'. Ney and Walter Jones declared that all references to 'french fries' and ' French toast' on the menus of the restaurants and snack bars run by the House of Representatives would be removed. On March 11, 2003, United States House of Representatives Robert W.

Freedom fries, more commonly known as french fries, are potatoes that have been cut and deep-fried.