PERSON: Edith Childs

Edith S. Childs is an American politician who served on the Greenwood, South Carolina, county council. President Barack Obama has credited her with coining his campaign slogan: “Fired up! Ready to go!” Childs was born in 1949 in South Carolina. She attended Brewer High School in Greenwood,where she studied health; and graduated in 1967.[2] After retiring as a licensed practical nurse she became local activist in her community. She started an anonymous hotline in Greenwood County to help seniors who were being preyed on by criminals and feared retribution if they called police. After retiring as a licensed practical nurse, she studied criminal justice and became a private investigator. In June 2007, then-Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama visited the small town of Greenwood, South Carolina (population 29,000) as part of his campaign efforts. When he arrived at the town’s civic center, late at night and in a driving rain, he was surprised to find a room of only 30 supporters. Childs, noticing the look on the candidate’s face, yelled out to those assembled, “Fired up!” The room responded, “Fired up!” Obama, surprised by the enthusiasm, turned around to see Childs as she continued, “Ready to go!,” to which the room again responded, “Ready to go!” Soon after the campaign stop in Greenwood, the same chant was repeated at a larger Obama rally in Aiken, South Carolina. Before long, volunteers were carry signs and wearing shirts printed with the slogan. The national press picked up on the craze; CNN interviewed her in Greenwood, and the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post also interviewed her. She flew to New York to appear on CBS. When a Japanese reporter wrote a story on her, in Japanese, the president of Greenwood’s Fujifilm plant translated it for her. In December 2009, almost a year after he assumed office, President Obama invited Childs to the White House for the first holiday celebration hosted by the Obamas.