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Studies in Rhetoric and Communication
Reagan and Public Discourse in America

Reagan and Public Discourse in America

Edited by Michael Weiler and W. Barnett Pearce

Series: Studies in Rhetoric and Communication

366 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 x 1.20 in

Paperback
9780817354077
Published: August 2006

$39.95

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eBook
9780817390419
Published: October 2015

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A critical assessment of the impact of the administration of President Ronald Reagan on public discourse in the United States

The authors show that more than any president since John F. Kennedy, Reagan’s influence flowed from his rhetorical practices. And he is remembered as having reversed certain trends and cast the U.S. on a new course. The contributors to this insightful collection of essays show that Reagan’s rhetorical tactics were matters of primary concern to his administration’s chief political strategists.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Rhetorical Analysis of the Reagan Administration - W. Barnett Pearce and Michael Weiler

Part I. The Invention of Reagan’s Discourse

1. Ceremonial Discourse: The Rhetorical Ecology of the Reagan Administration - Michael Weiler and W. Barnett Pearce

2. Rhetoric, Legitimation, and the End of the Cold War: Ronald Reagan at the Moscow Summit, 1988 - G. Thomas Goodnight

3. President Reagan at the London Guildhall: A British Interpretation - Robin Carter

Part II. The Style of Reagan’s Discourse

4. Acting like a President; or, What Has Ronald Reagan Done to Political Speaking? - J. Jeffery Auer

5. Antithesis and Oxymoron: Ronald Reagan’s Figurative Rhetorical Structure - James Jasinski

6. The Transformation of Actor to Scene: Some Strategic Grounds of the Reagan Legacy - Jane Blankenship and Janette Kenner Muir

Part III. Foreign Policy Case Studies

7. A Rhetorical Ambush at Reykjavik: A Case Study of the Transformation of Discourse - W. Barnett Pearce, Deborah K. Johnson, and Robert J. Branham

8. The Paranoid Style in Foreign Policy: Ronald Reagan’s Control of the Situation in Nicaragua - Jeff D. Bass

9. When the Shoe Is on the Other Foot: The Reagan Administration’s Treatment of the Shootdown of Iran Air 655 - Marilyn J. Young

Part IV. Domestic Policy Case Studies

10. The Reagan Attack on Welfare - Michael Weiler

11. The City as Marketplace: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Urban Enterprise Zone Policy - DeLysa Burnier and David Descutner

12. Civil Religion and Public Argument: Reagan as Public Priest of the Antiabortion Movement - Catherine Helen Palczewski

Notes

Bibliography

Contributors

Index

Michael Weiler is an associate professor in the department of communication studies at Emerson College. An expert in argument, rhetoric, and political communication, he is the author of research that has appeared in Argumentation and Advocacy, Informal Logic, and the Quarterly Journal of Speech. He is director of Emerson Community Debate, a program that promotes debating activities at Boston elementary and secondary schools.

"Reagan and Public Discourse in America offers a clear explanation of how President Reagan achieved popularity and policy success through rhetoric. Those who may never have understood Reagan's popularity will comprehend it after reading this collection."
—Loyola Magazine

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