The Modern Presidency & Civil Rights: Rhetoric on Race from Roosevelt to Nixon
- ISBN-10
- 1585441074
- ISBN-13
- 9781585441075
- Category
- Political science (General)
- Pages
- 259
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2001
- Publisher
- Texas A&M University Press
- Author
- Garth E. Pauley
Description
Every president since Franklin Roosevelt has confronted civil rights issues during his tenure in the White House, and most have faced intense demands to speak publicly about the nation's racial problems and possible solutions. Indeed, modern American presidents have become a major focal point for the civil rights struggle.
In The Modern Presidency and Civil Rights, Garth E. Pauley examines modern presidents' communicative and symbolic involvement in these matters, focusing on four crucial speeches, the circumstances surrounding them, and their effect on public attitudes and policy.
Pauley's perspective is both historical and critical. It explores the pattern of presidential discourse on race in the modern era and considers the promise and limitations of presidential talk with regard to civil rights. The four significant episodes of American presidential speech Pauley examines are: Harry Truman's address of June 29, 1947, to the NAACP; Dwight Eisenhower's national address on September 24, 1957, following the integration crisis at Little Rock; John F. Kennedy's speech on June 11, 1963, labeling civil rights as primarily a moral issue; and Lyndon Johnson's voting rights message of March 15, 1965. Historical background is provided by a discussion of Roosevelt's racial stance.
Pauley's analysis is guided by several assumptions about the presidency, civil rights, and rhetoric, beginning with the assumption that presidential rhetoric matters. Pauley examines the role of rhetoric in leadership, policy making, and the political meanings and interpretations that form the political culture. Following in the tradition of his discipline, Pauley gives both close analysis of the speech text itself and consideration of the historical situation surrounding the speech.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Triumphs and Tragedies of the Modern Presidency: Case Studies in Presidential Leadership
By James Kitfield, Stephen Skowronek, Maxmillian Angerholzer IIIThe case studies in this single-volume work cover an unparalleled scope of "modern presidential history" and related topics, beginning with the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt and continuing to the presidency of Barack Obama.
-
LBJ’s American Promise: The 1965 Voting Rights Address
By Garth E. PauleyHaving set the stage for the address, Pauley then carefully analyzes the text itself.
-
The Modern Presidency and Crisis Rhetoric
By Amos KieweThis volume examines how presidents from Truman to Bush rhetorically approached and managed political, military, judicial, legislative, and economic crises during their presidencies. Editor Amos Kiewe assembles new essays by...
-
The Modern American Presidency
By Lewis L. GouldWhen the first edition of this book appeared in 2003, it was chosen as a Main Selection of both the Book-of-the-Month Club and History Book Club and quickly became the...
-
Jimmy Carter, Human Rights, and the National Agenda
By Mary E. StuckeyThough Jimmy Carter is widely viewed as one of the least effective modern presidents, the human rights agenda for which his administration is known remains high in the national awareness and continues to provide important justifications for ...
-
Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State
By Megan Ming FrancisThis book extends what we know about the development of civil rights and the role of the NAACP in American politics.
-
Harry Truman and Civil Rights
By Michael R. GardnerWhen Truman assumed the presidency on April 12, 1945, Michael R. Gardner points out, Washington, DC, in many ways resembled Cape Town, South Africa, under apartheid rule circa 1985.
-
In the Public Domain: Presidents and the Challenges of Public Leadership
By Lori Cox Han, Diane J. HeithExplores how recent presidents have managed communications with the American public.
-
Nixon's Civil Rights: Politics, Principle, and Policy
By Dean J KOTLOWSKI56 Doris-Jean Burton, "Child-Care," in Supplement to Dictionary of American History: AARP-Lyme Disease, ed. Robert H. Ferrell and Joan Hoff(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996), 1:114-115. 57 "Conversation with the President," Jan.
-
The Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents
By Colleen J. Shogan... Steven Smith served as a careful reader and reminded me not to forget my education in political philosophy. Norma Thompson's seminar provided me with the framework to understand rhetoric in a classical sense, which was essential in ...