Description
Book SynopsisThis book is an evolutionary examination of the rhetoric of the President of the United States, from George Washington to George W. Bush. It provides a close analysis of the history and content of inaugural addresses, State of the Union addresses, presidential proclamations, and executive orders in order to trace the changes in their use and impact from their origin to the present day. Content analysis of these forms of executive address are combined with case studies and illustrations to provide a complete look at the way that contrary to the widely held ascription to a clear traditional versus modern divide the presidents of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries have all contributed to the rhetorical tools and powers that the current president wields in the execution of his duty.
The Evolutionary Rhetorical Presidency is widely useful not only for standard governmental classes on, for example, the Presidency or on political communication, but also for courses i
Trade Review«Twenty-five years ago Gary King issued a call to presidency scholars, urging them to collect systematic data about the operation of our chief executive. Many have answered this call. Ryan Lee Teten is the latest to do so with ‘The Evolutionary Rhetorical Presidency’. He has collected an amazing array of data that tells an important story about the presidency and how the institution has changed. This book is a welcome and valuable addition to the field.» (John Geer, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science, and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee)
«All the conclusions Ryan Lee Teten draws are based on literally thousands of primary documents; he cites the pertinent scholarship in connection with new findings and then presents convincing arguments for leaving the unnatural divide of traditional/modern presidential rhetoric behind. With this study Teten proves that scholars have in fact worked on presidential rhetoric with a certain set of preconceived notions. The time has surely come to correct this misconception, and there is no doubt that scholars of presidential rhetoric and history will have to revise their traditional views.» (Wolfgang Mieder, Department of German and Russian, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont)
«Are ‘modern’ presidents really so different from their ‘traditional’ predecessors regarding rhetoric? In his new book, Ryan Lee Teten argues that they are more similar than conventional wisdom suggests. Clearly written, insightful, and backed by a wealth of data, Teten’s ‘The Evolutionary Rhetorical Presidency’ is an important contribution to the body of literature on presidential rhetoric.» (Jeffrey Crouch, Assistant Professor of American Politics, American University; Author of ‘The Presidential Pardon Power’)
