George W. Bush’s controversial State of the Union address from 29th January, 2002 - saw the introduction of the phrase ‘the Axis of Evil’. 

Speechwriter David Frum had initially grouped Iraq, Iran and North Korea together as an ‘Axis of Hatred’ - but Bush himself chose to replace the word ‘hatred’ with ‘evil’, a choice viewed by most Americans as striking the right tone, but many international commentators as a stepping-stone to indiscriminately invading Iraq.

In this episode Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how Bush’s pivot to ‘evil’ opened up numerous sticky diplomatic questions for his administration; reveal which countries Republican hawk John Bolton felt were the next-most-evil nations; and explain how Frum took inspiration from FDR’s reaction to Pearl Harbor… 

Further Reading:

• ‘David Frum: The Enduring Lessons of the ‘Axis of Evil’ Speech’ (The Atlantic, 2022): https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/axis-of-evil-speech-frum-bush/621397/

• ‘20 years later, the ‘Axis of Evil’ is bigger, bolder — and more evil’ (The Hill, 2022): https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3754480-20-years-later-the-axis-of-evil-is-bigger-bolder-and-more-evil/

• ‘George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address’ (2002): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btkJhAM7hZw

This episode first premiered in 2022, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!

We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/retrospectors

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices