Meaning
A proverbial claim that broad economic growth benefits everyone in society, so policy should favour general expansion over targeted redistribution. Invoked approvingly by politicians and economists, and just as often quoted in order to be disputed, since critics argue the tide mainly lifts the biggest boats. Confident, proverbial tone; now as often quoted for rebuttal as for support. Regional use: General English; strongest in North American political and economic debate.
Origin
The aphorism is popularly credited to John F. Kennedy, who said 'a rising tide lifts all the boats' at the Greers Ferry Dam dedication in Arkansas on 3 October 1963, and used similar lines in other speeches that year. The idea, however, is much older in variant forms. A 1647 sermon by the English clergyman William Bridge speaks of ships raised when the tide comes in, though in different words, and near-identical wordings such as 'the rising tide lifts every boat' appear in American missionary publications of 1910-14. The New England Council, a regional business group, used the phrase as a report title from 1951, and by 1952 it was being described as an old New England saying; Kennedy's speechwriter Ted Sorensen later said in his memoir that he took it from the council's slogan. Kennedy popularised the wording rather than inventing it, and attributions that treat him as the originator are wrong.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a rising tide lifts all ships
- a rising tide raises all boats
- a rising tide that lifts all boats
- the rising tide lifts all boats
Usage Examples
- The chancellor argued that a rising tide lifts all boats, so the tax cuts came first.
- Critics replied that in their city the rising tide had lifted only the yachts.
- A rising tide lifts all boats, the mayor said, announcing the new port jobs.