Before the rhetorical presidency / edited by Martin J. Medhurst.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Medhurst, Martin J.

Series:

Presidential rhetoric series ; no. 19.

Presidential rhetoric series ; no. 19

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Presidents--United States--History--19th century.

Presidents.

Presidents--United States--Language.

Rhetoric--Political aspects--United States.

Rhetoric.

United States--Politics and government--19th century.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (369 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

College Station : Texas A&M University Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Since its identification in 1981, the rhetorical presidency has drawn both defenders and critics. Chief among those critical of the practice is political theorist Jeffrey K. Tulis, whose 1987 book, The Rhetorical Presidency, helped popularize the construct and set forth a sustained analysis of the baleful effects that have allegedly accompanied the shift from a "constitutional" presidency to a "rhetorical" one. Tulis locates this shift in the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, arguing that the rhetorical presidency is a twentieth-century phenomenon. Yet not all scholars agree with this assessment. Before the Rhetorical Presidency is an attempt to investigate how U.S. presidents in the nineteenth century communicated with their publics, both congressional and popular. In part 1, Martin J. Medhurst, Mel Laracey, Jeffrey K. Tulis, and Stephen E. Lucas set forth differing perspectives on how the rhetorical presidency ought to be understood and evaluated. In part 2, eleven scholars of nineteenth-century presidential rhetoric investigate the presidencies of Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley. As the first volume ever to focus on nineteenth-century presidents from a rhetorical perspective, Before the Rhetorical Presidency examines administrations, policies, and events that have never before been subjected to rhetorical analysis. The sometimes startling outcomes of these investigations reveal the need for continuing debate over the nature, practices, and effects of the rhetorical presidency. In a brief afterword, Medhurst raises eight challenges to the original formulation of the rhetorical presidency and in so doing sets forth an agenda for future studies.

Contents:

Introduction: Was there a nineteenth century rhetorical presidency? a debate revisited / Martin J. Medhurst

Part I. Alternative perspectives on the rhetorical presidency. Talking without speaking, and other curiosities / Mel Laracey ; On the forms of rhetorical leadership / Jeffrey K. Tulis ; Present at the founding: the rhetorical presidency in historical perspective / Stephen E. Lucas

Part II. Nineteenth-century rhetorical presidencies. Little magic: Martin van Buren and the politics of gender / Susan Zaeske ; John Tyler and the rhetoric of the accidental presidency / David Zarefsky ; James Knox Polk: the first imperial president? / Karlyn Kohrs Campbell ; Franklin Pierce and the exuberant hauteur of an age of extremes: a love song for America in six movements / Stephen John Hartnett ; James Buchanan: romancing the Union / Robert E. Terrill ; Andrew Johnson and the politics of character / Stephen Howard Browne ; Resolute commander for just peace: the rhetoric of President Ulysses S. Grant / George R. Goethals ; The challenges of reunification: Rutherford B. Hayes on the close race and the racial divide / Amy R. Slagell ; The problem with public memory: Benjamin Harrison confronts the "southern question" / Kirt H. Wilson ; Grover Cleveland and the non-rhetorical presidency / Michael Leff ; William McKinley and the emergence of the modern rhetorical presidency / William D. Harpine

Afterword: Questioning the rhetorical presidency construct / M.J Medhurst.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-299-05209-6

1-60344-626-5

OCLC:

726828935