"We will lift Shanghai up ... until it is just like Kansas City"

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Cracked up when I saw this quote, so I thought I'd share it here. Kenneth Wherry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_S._Wherry), U.S. Senator from Nebraska back in the 1930s and 40s: "With God's help, we will lift Shanghai up and up, ever up, until it is just like Kansas City."

Picture of Downtown Kansas City, 2008 (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Jrb_kansas_city_union_station_downtown_001.JPG)
Picture of Shanghai Bund, 2006 (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Shanghai_night_bund_skyscrapers.jpg)

Too bad it may be apocryphal, or said by someone else and confused as having been said by Wherry. The earliest citation I can find to it is in the New York Times from 1971, when they said it was a 1940 campaign promise (link (http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70A13FE355F127A93CAA8178FD85F45 8785F9)); then in 1972, they claimed he said it in 1950 in the context of an anti-communist debate (link (http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0E16FC3F591A7493CAA81789D85F46 8785F9)).

[J Honcanese]

Huh?

Even in the 1930s Shanghai was far more "up" than Kansas City... I don't want to be stating the obvious, but it was a whole lot more worldly, cosmopolitan and famous. Hence its well-earned nickname "Paris of the East".

[Craig]

^^ Yeah, but it doesn't mean that journalists don't lie to make up stories. American journalism is about selling papers, advertising, etc. Making the quotes more interesting, draws eyes to the publication. Plus, Americans are ignorant, have short memories, don't know their own country's history and very unworldly.

[mr. x]

let's not forget the opium dens