This paper focuses on the concept of a Swedish or Nordic model. When the labels "Swedish" or "Scandinavian/Nordic" started being used in relation to models in the political debate starting from the late 1960s, it was either as a warning or as an example to emulate. However, models have a political bearing. They are used as arguments in a political debate and are therefore contested. Foreign interest in Sweden was recorded as early as the 1930s, when Marquis William Child published his book Sweden: The Middle Way (1936). In fact, Child’s aim was to write not so much about Sweden as about the US. In effect, his book was a contribution to the debate over the New Deal, the case of Sweden offering an argument in favor of New Deal and Roosevelt’s policies.