It Can’t Happen Here

It Can’t Happen Here

by

Sinclair Lewis

Rotary Clubs are the local chapters of the service organization Rotary International. Sinclair Lewis viewed Rotarians as naïve, middle-class conformists who tried to earn social status by talking like humanitarians, without actually doing anything.

Rotary Club Quotes in It Can’t Happen Here

The It Can’t Happen Here quotes below are all either spoken by Rotary Club or refer to Rotary Club. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
American Fascism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

“For the first time in all history, a great nation must go on arming itself more and more, not for conquest—not for jealousy—not for war—but for peace! Pray God it may never be necessary, but if foreign nations don’t sharply heed our warning, there will, as when the proverbial dragon’s teeth were sowed, spring up an armed and fearless warrior upon every square foot of these United States, so arduously cultivated and defended by our pioneer fathers, whose sword-girded images we must be … or we shall perish!”

Related Characters: Herbert Y. Edgeways (speaker), Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, Adelaide Tarr Gimmitch
Page Number: 2-3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

“People will think they’re electing [Windrip] to create more economic security. Then watch the Terror! God knows there’s been enough indication that we can have tyranny in America—the fix of the Southern share-croppers, the working conditions of the miners and garment-makers, and our keeping Mooney in prison so many years. But wait till Windrip shows us how to say it with machine guns! […] On the whole, with scandalous exceptions, Democracy’s given the ordinary worker more dignity than he ever had. That may be menaced now by Windrip—all the Windrips. All right! Maybe we’ll have to fight paternal dictatorship with a little sound patricide—fight machine guns with machine guns. Wait till Buzz takes charge of us. A real Fascist dictatorship!”

“Nonsense! Nonsense!” snorted Tasbrough. “That couldn’t happen here in America, not possibly! We’re a country of freemen.”

Related Characters: Doremus Jessup/William Barton Dobbs (speaker), Francis Tasbrough (speaker), Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip
Page Number: 16-17
Explanation and Analysis:
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Rotary Club Term Timeline in It Can’t Happen Here

The timeline below shows where the term Rotary Club appears in It Can’t Happen Here. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
American Fascism Theme Icon
Political Communication and Mass Media Theme Icon
At the elegant Hotel Wessex in the fictional town of Fort Beulah, Vermont, the local Rotary Club hosts a Ladies’ Night Dinner. The event is mostly serious in tone—like everything else... (full context)
American Fascism Theme Icon
Liberalism and Tolerance Theme Icon
Political Communication and Mass Media Theme Icon
...he thanks the General for revealing “what the ruling classes of the country really want.” (Rotary Club president Medary Cole can’t tell whether or not Jessup is joking.) Lorinda Pike stands... (full context)
Chapter 2
American Fascism Theme Icon
Liberalism and Tolerance Theme Icon
After the Rotary Club dinner, Doremus Jessup will go to Francis Tasbrough’s house for an afterparty. But first,... (full context)
Chapter 10
American Fascism Theme Icon
Liberalism and Tolerance Theme Icon
Political Communication and Mass Media Theme Icon
...runs him out of town. Doremus Jessup sees Windrip’s campaign as “Revolution in terms of Rotary.” (full context)
Chapter 17
American Fascism Theme Icon
...Lee Sarason’s proposal: a ship’s wheel, which symbolizes the government, the automotive industry, and the Rotary Club. Sarason proudly announces that the wheel also resembles the Nazis’ swastika and the KKK’s... (full context)