Teresa Hensley

No one is sure about the origin of Missouri’s unofficial slogan, the “Show-Me” state . In an 1899 speech, Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver said, “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.” Though he may not have coined “show-me,” Vandiver certainly popularized the phrase that embodies the no-nonsense character of Missourians.