Of Thee I Sing

Musical by GEORGE GERSHWIN, 1931. The work is a satire on American Presidential campaigns.

The candidate, Wintergreen, runs on a "platform of love," vowing to marry the winner of the Miss White House contest if he is elected. He wins, but instead of marrying the contest's winner he selects a plainer girl since she can really make corn muffins for the White House functions. An impeachment process is avoided when Vice President Throttle-bottom marries the beauty contest winner instead.

The lyrics, by Gershwin's brother Ira, are incisive. The leading songs are the title song, Love Is Sweeping the Country, and Who Cares?The critic Brooks Atkinson found the work "funnier than the government, and not nearly so dangerous." It was the first MUSICAL to win the Pulitzer Prize.