A recent book that appeared a few years ago, "How Early America Sounded" by historian Richard Cullen Rath, connects well with much of the new, exciting, interdisciplinary and rhetorical research that the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) have supported, promoted, and…

M. Karen Powers and Catherine Chaput's ""Anti-American Studies" in the Deep South: Dissenting Rhetorics, the Practice of Democracy, and Academic Freedom in Wartime Universities" begins a much needed discussion about the current and ongoing assaults against academic freedom in American universities, which have not received…

This essay provides a brief account of selected performances of Australian refugee policy in the domains of politics and theatre. In the domain of politics, it considers rhetorical performances by government ministers and military personnel in relation to the so-called "children overboard" scandal of 2001, and the scandal's parliamentary…

This essay explores a reading of "Robinson Crusoe" that suggests the novel has taken on new gravity after the first "preemptive" war in U.S. history, a war justified by the attempt to "spread freedom" to Iraq. It examines how Crusoe comes to understand the relationship between the state and the individual. Robinson…

Public memorial services held in New York City on September 11, 2002, marked the most important U.S. civic commemoration of the present era. Numerous popular and academic critics excoriated speakers on that day for commemorating the occasion with commemorative declamations instead of offering original speeches. This essay contends that assessing…

From the late 1860s through the mid-1870s, woman suffrage activists developed an ingenious legal argument, claiming that the U.S. Constitution already enfranchised women citizens. The argument, first articulated by St. Louis activists Virginia and Francis Minor, precipitated rhetorical performances by movement activists on public platforms and in…

Rock music is ideological both implicitly (in its intrinsic valuing of change, and resistance to authority, for instance), and explicitly (in political records from activist artists such as John Lennon and U2). The texts of the rock genre offer rhetorical experiences. A dialogic conception may help scholars to account for and describe the…

Analyzes George Hansen's apologetic rhetoric from the perspective of a generic, "paranoid-style" of discourse to show why the Congressman was able to defend his character to the satisfaction of nearly one-half of his constituency. Uses the Hansen case to illustrate the development and function of a rhetorical genre in a given historical context.…

Employs Kenneth Burke's pentad to examine rhetorical choices made by former U.S. Congressman George Hansen as he dramatized two situations: his felony conviction and his subsequent reelection bid. Suggests that Hansen's rhetoric was largely effective because it resulted in substantial identification with the voters of Idaho's Second Congressional…

On June 11, 1962, President John F. Kennedy addressed the economy at Yale University. This essay explains the symbolic charge of his economic rhetoric, a persuasive campaign that enjoyed considerable success and marked the first time that a president took explicit responsibility for the nation's economic performance. I argue that the president…

Examines the rhetorical themes through which President Reagan has, relative to his recent predecessors, unified the nation behind his leadership. Discusses how Reagan interweaves familiar American myths, symbols, values, and beliefs so skillfully in his rhetoric that any criticism of him or his policies is initially construed as an attack on the…

Examines Jesse Jackson's rhetorical strategy of functionalizing conflict among divisive Democrats during the 1984 national convention. Applies conflict theory to Jackson's convention address, which serves as the basis for this rhetorical analysis. (JD)

Investigates the operation of myth and victimage in President Reagan's Lebanon/Grenada address. Delineates the clustering structure within the speech, suggesting how the arrangement of mythic content accomplished victimage. Argues that Reagan defused his foreign policy by redefining it, thereby making the Lebanon/Grenada situation appear both…

Focusing on the ethical quality of political rhetoric, maintains that Reagan's efforts to justify the invasion and occupation of Grenada must be evaluated by democracy's need for free and open debate. Argues that Reagan's rhetoric violated these ethical standards numerous times by distorting and/or misrepresenting relevant evidence and arguments.…

Examines Monsignor John A. Ryan's advocacy on behalf of social reform between 1892 and 1945. Argues that Ryan took the roles of priest, prophet, and politician, and that each of these roles called forth its own distinctive form of argumentation on behalf of social change. (JK)