great white hope

Idioms  

1. Something or someone that is expected to succeed. For example, Mark is the great white hope of the international division. This expression dates from the early 1900s, when heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, who was black, seemed invincible and the term was used for any white opponent who might defeat him. It gained currency as the title of a Broadway play and later (1970) a film. By then it had been transferred to anyone of whom much was expected.

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Example Sentences

“He became the banner, the poster child for the great white hope of evangelicalism, the salvation of the church in America,” she said.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 10, 2021

Donald Trump may be the great white hope of the Republican party, but his dislike of sharks is well known.

From The Guardian • Sep. 29, 2019

This will then evolve into Zoe – the great white hope for the personalised-health revolution.

From The Guardian • Jun. 23, 2019

The trouble is that Washington's enemies, whose dislike for one another seems to be exceeded only by their distaste for the mayor, have been unable to decide which great white hope to get behind.

From Time Magazine Archive

What has become of the great white hope -- the man who saw the writing on the wall, dismantled the bars of apartheid and promised to shape a new South Africa?

From Time Magazine Archive