Wake Forest University

Readings - Presidential Rhetoric

Under Construction

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Week 1 (Jan 14) Introduction

Louden, A. (In press). Presidential Communication. Encyclopedia of Political Communication. In L. L. Kaid and C. Holtz-Bacha (Eds.), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Week 2 (Jan ): Overview

Coe, K. (2007). The language of freedom in the American presidency, 1933-2006, Presidential Studies Quarterly 37, 375–398.
Lim, E. T. (2002). Five trends in presidential rhetoric: An analysis of rhetoric from George Washington to Bill Clinton. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 32, 328-366.
Medhurst. M. J. (1996). A tale of two constructs: The rhetorical presidency versus presidential rhetoric. In M. J. Medhurst (Ed.), Beyond the rhetorical presidency (pp. IX-XXV). College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press.
Zarefsky, D. (2002). The presidency has always been a place for rhetorical leadership. In L. G. Dorsey (Ed.), The presidency and rhetorical leadership (pp.20-41). College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press.

Week 3 (September 9, 10 - Sept 7 Labor Day no class): Genre & Major Addresses

Beasley, V. B. (2001). The rhetoric of ideological consensus in the United States: American principles and American pose in presidential inaugurals. Communication Monographs, 68, 169-183.
Teten, R. L. (2003). Evolution of the modern rhetorical presidency: Presidential presentation and development of the State of the Union Address, Presidential Studies Quarterly, 33, 333-346.
Willyard, J., & Ritter, K. (2005). Election 2004 concession and victory speeches: The influence of genre, context, and speaker on addresses by presidential and vice presidential candidates. American Behavioral Scientist, 49. 488 - 509.

Week 4 (September 14, 16, 18: Going Public

Druckman, J. N. & Holmes, J. W. (2004). Does presidential rhetoric matter? Priming and presidential approval. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 34, 755-777.
Laracey, M. (2002). Chapter 7 from President's and the people: The partisan story of going public. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press.
Zarefsky, D. (2004). Presidential rhetoric and the power of definition. Presidential Studies Quarterly 34, 607-619.

Week 5 (September 21, 23, 25): Early American Rhetoric/Lincoln

Hostetler, M. J. (2002). Washington's Farewell Address: Distance as bane and blessing. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 3, 393-407.
Vivian, B. (2002). Jefferson’s other. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 88, 284-302.
Zarefsky, D. (2003). The continuing fascination with Lincoln. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 6, 337-383.

Week 6 (Sept 28, 30, October 2): Teddy Roosevelt & Wilson

Dorsey, L. G., & Harlow, R. M. (2003). "We Want Americans Pure and Simple": Theodore Roosevelt an the myth of Americanism. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 6, 55-78.
Stuckey, M. E. (2006). Establishing the rhetorical presidency through presidential rhetoric: Theodore Roosevelt and the Brownsville Raid. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 92, 287-309.
Flanagan, J. C. (2004). Woodrow Wilson's "Rhetorical Restructuring": The transformation of the American self and the construction of the German enemy. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 7, 115-148.

Week 7 (October 5, 7, 9): FDR, Truman, Eisenhower

Houck, D. W. (1997). Reading the body of the text: FDR’s 1932 speech to the democratic National Convention. Southern Communication Journal, 63, 20-36.
Lim, E. T. (2003). The lion and the lamb: De-mythologizing Franklin Roosevelt's Fireside Chats. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 6, 437-464.

Week 8 (October 12, 14- Fall Break 16, no class): LBJ, Kennedy

Jordan, J. W. (2003). Kennedy's romantic moon and its rhetorical legacy for space exploration. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 6, 209-232.
Yuravlivker, D. (2006). "Peace without Conquest": Lyndon Johnson's speech of April 7, 1965. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 26, 457-481.

Week 9 (October 19, 21, 23): Reagan & Nixon, Clinton, & Bush

Black, E. (1996). The invention of Nixon. In M. J. Medhurst (Ed.). Beyond the rhetorical presidency (pp. 104-121). College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press.
Brown, L. M. (2007). The contemporary presidency: The greats and the great debate: President William J. Clinton’s use of presidential exemplars. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 37, 124-138.
Jacobs, L. R., Page, B. I., Burns, M. McAvoy, G. & Oster, E. (2003). What presidents talk about: The Nixon case. Presidential Studies Quarterly; 33, 751-771.
Murphy, J. M. (1997). Inventing authority: Bill Clinton, Marlin Luther King, Jr., and the orchestration of rhetorical traditions. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 83, 71-89.
Rowland, R. C., & Jones, J. M. (2006). Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate: Moral clarity tempered by pragmatism. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 9, 1-21-50.

Week 10 (Oct. 26, 28, 30): War Rhetoric/Foreign Policy; Domestic Speaking

Bostdorff, D. M. (2003). George W. Bush's post-September 11 rhetoric of covenant renewal: Upholding the faith of the greatest generation. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 89, 293-319.
Stuckey, M. E. (1993). Remembering the future: Rhetorical echoes of World War II and Vietnam in George Bush’s public speech on the Gulf War. Communication Studies, 43, 246-256.
Winkler, C. (2007). Parallels in preemptive war rhetoric: Reagan on Libya, Bush 43 on Iraq. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 10, 303–334.
Wood, B. D. (2004). Presidential rhetoric and economic leadership. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 34, 573-606.

Week 11 (Nov. 2, 4, 6) Domestic Speaking, Moral Leadership

Patton, J. (1977). A government as good as its people: Jimmy Carter and the restoration of transcendence to politics. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 63, 249-257.
Riswold, C. D. (2004). A religious response veiled in a presidential address: A theological study of Bush's speech on 20 September 2001. Political Theology, 5, 39-46.
Young, G., & Perkins, W. B. (2005). Presidential rhetoric, the public agenda, and the end of presidential television’s “Golden Age.” Journal of Politics, 67, 1190–1205.

Week 12 (Nov 9 Ceremonial Speaking, No class Nov 11, 13, NCA Chicago):

Koesten, J., & Rowland, R. C. (2004). The rhetoric of atonement. Communication Studies, 55, 68-87.
Medhurst, M. J. (2003). Presidential speechwriting: Ten myths that plague modern scholarship. In K. Ritter and M. J. Medhurst (Eds.) Presidential speechwriting: From the new deal to the Reagan revolution and beyond (pp. 3-19). College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press.

Week 13 Nov 16, 18, 20 )

Week 16 (Nov 23, No class 25, 27 Thanksgiving): Scandals, Non-Speaking Rhetoric

Brummett, B. (1980). Towards a theory of silence as a political strategy. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 66, 289-303.
Simons, H. W. (2000). A dilemma-center analysis of Clinton's August 17th Apologia: Implications for rhetorical theory and method. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 86, 438-453.

Week 15 (Nov 30.Dec. 2, last day of class):  Research Project Reports, Lecture

 

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