It Can’t Happen Here

It Can’t Happen Here

by

Sinclair Lewis

Colonel Dewey Haik is a cold-blooded, homicidal congressman and soldier who belongs to Buzz Windrip’s inner circle. He nominates Windrip at the Democratic Convention, campaigns for him in unusual places around the U.S., and founds the Minute Men. After the inauguration, Windrip makes Haik the Provincial Commissioner of the Northeastern Province, although he eventually becomes Secretary of War, helps Lee Sarason overthrow Windrip’s government, and then murders Sarason to take power for himself. By the end of the novel, Haik is the president of the United States. He is even more brutal than Windrip or Sarason, and he is busy fighting two wars: his futile invasion of Mexico and the new civil war against General Coon’s rebel forces. Haik’s rise to power suggests that authoritarian systems like fascism generally fall deeper and deeper into crisis over time because, without checks and balances on power, they allow the most callous and selfish officials to end up with the most power.

Dewey Haik Quotes in It Can’t Happen Here

The It Can’t Happen Here quotes below are all either spoken by Dewey Haik or refer to Dewey Haik. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
American Fascism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 35 Quotes

Secretary of the Treasury Skittle and Attorney General Porkwood shook their heads, but Secretary of War Haik and Secretary of Education Macgoblin agreed with Sarason high-mindedly. Once, pointed out the learned Macgoblin, governments had merely let themselves slide into a war, thanking Providence for having provided a conflict as a febrifuge against internal discontent, but of course, in this age of deliberate, planned propaganda, a really modern government like theirs must figure out what brand of war they had to sell and plan the selling-campaign consciously. Now, as for him, he would be willing to leave the whole set-up to the advertising genius of Brother Sarason.

“No, no, no!” cried Windrip. “We’re not ready for a war! Of course, we’ll take Mexico some day. It’s our destiny to control it and Christianize it. But I’m scared that your darn scheme might work just opposite to what you say.”

Related Characters: Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip (speaker), Dewey Haik, Dr. Hector Macgoblin, Senator Porkwood, Lee Sarason, Webster R. Skittle
Page Number: 347
Explanation and Analysis:
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Dewey Haik Quotes in It Can’t Happen Here

The It Can’t Happen Here quotes below are all either spoken by Dewey Haik or refer to Dewey Haik. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
American Fascism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 35 Quotes

Secretary of the Treasury Skittle and Attorney General Porkwood shook their heads, but Secretary of War Haik and Secretary of Education Macgoblin agreed with Sarason high-mindedly. Once, pointed out the learned Macgoblin, governments had merely let themselves slide into a war, thanking Providence for having provided a conflict as a febrifuge against internal discontent, but of course, in this age of deliberate, planned propaganda, a really modern government like theirs must figure out what brand of war they had to sell and plan the selling-campaign consciously. Now, as for him, he would be willing to leave the whole set-up to the advertising genius of Brother Sarason.

“No, no, no!” cried Windrip. “We’re not ready for a war! Of course, we’ll take Mexico some day. It’s our destiny to control it and Christianize it. But I’m scared that your darn scheme might work just opposite to what you say.”

Related Characters: Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip (speaker), Dewey Haik, Dr. Hector Macgoblin, Senator Porkwood, Lee Sarason, Webster R. Skittle
Page Number: 347
Explanation and Analysis: