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Willard Duncan Vandiver | |
|---|---|
.jpg) From The State Historical Society of Missouri Digital Collections | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 14th district | |
| In office March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1905 | |
| Preceded by | Norman Adolphus Mozley |
| Succeeded by | William T. Tyndall |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 30, 1854 Moorefield, Virginia (now West Virginia), U.S. |
| Died | May 30, 1932 (aged 78) Missouri |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Known for | Allegedly coining Missouri's nickname as the "Show Me State" |
Willard Duncan Vandiver (March 30, 1854 – May 30, 1932) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Missouri. He is popularly credited with the authorship of the famous expression: "I'm from Missouri, you've got to show me," which led to the state's famous nickname: "The Show Me State".[1] In an 1899 speech, he declared, "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me." This attribution is doubtful, however, as the phrase was current earlier in the 1890s, so it appears that Vandiver merely popularized it.[2]
- ^ W. Scott Ingram, Missouri: The Show-Me State, Gareth Stevens, 2002, ISBN 0-8368-5309-1 (p. 16).
- ^ Missouri Secretary of State's Office, Why Is Missouri Called the "Show-Me" State?, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/slogan.asp retrieved November 2013