The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from George Washington to George W. BushOxford University Press, 2008 M06 16 - 208 páginas Why has it been so long since an American president has effectively and consistently presented well-crafted, intellectually substantive arguments to the American public? Why have presidential utterances fallen from the rousing speeches of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, and FDR to a series of robotic repetitions of talking points and sixty-second soundbites, largely designed to obfuscate rather than illuminate? In The Anti-Intellectual Presidency, Elvin Lim draws on interviews with more than 40 presidential speechwriters to investigate this relentless qualitative decline, over the course of 200 years, in our presidents' ability to communicate with the public. Lim argues that the ever-increasing pressure for presidents to manage public opinion and perception has created a "pathology of vacuous rhetoric and imagery" where gesture and appearance matter more than accomplishment and fact. Lim tracks the campaign to simplify presidential discourse through presidential and speechwriting decisions made from the Truman to the present administration, explaining how and why presidents have embraced anti-intellectualism and vague platitudes as a public relations strategy. Lim sees this anti-intellectual stance as a deliberate choice rather than a reflection of presidents' intellectual limitations. Only the smart, he suggests, know how to dumb down. The result, he shows, is a dangerous debasement of our political discourse and a quality of rhetoric which has been described, charitably, as "a linguistic struggle" and, perhaps more accurately, as "dogs barking idiotically through endless nights." Sharply written and incisively argued, The Anti-Intellectual Presidency sheds new light on the murky depths of presidential oratory, illuminating both the causes and consequences of this substantive impoverishment. |
Contenido
2 The Linguistic Simplification of Presidential Rhetoric | 19 |
3 The AntiIntellectual Speechwriters | 40 |
4 The Substantive Impoverishment of Presidential Rhetoric | 54 |
5 Institutionalizing the AntiIntellectual Presidency | 77 |
6 Indicting the AntiIntellectual Presidency | 100 |
7 Reforming the AntiIntellectual Presidency | 115 |
The General Inquirer GI | 123 |
Definitions of General Inquirer Categories Used | 127 |
Annual Messages 17902006 | 129 |
Inaugural Addresses 17892005 | 135 |
Presidential Speechwriters Interviewed | 137 |
The Flesch Readability Score | 141 |
Notes | 143 |
175 | |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from ... Elvin T. Lim Vista previa limitada - 2012 |
The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from ... Elvin T. Lim Vista previa limitada - 2008 |
The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from ... Elvin T. Lim Vista previa limitada - 2008 |
Términos y frases comunes
1st 2nd 3rd administration American annual messages anti anti-intellectual presidency appear applause argument audience Bill Clinton Bush Bush’s campaign chapter chief speechwriter citizens Clark Clifford common sense communication congress constitution content analysis David Gergen delegated speechwriting deliberation deliberative democracy democratic Eisenhower figure Flesch scores Franklin Roosevelt function genre George George H. W. Bush George W Gerson ghostwriters go anti-intellectual going public Harvard IV-4 Hoover inaugural addresses inspirational platitudes institutional intellectual Interview James John Johnson Kennedy language leadership linguistic Nixon observed partisan punch lines Peggy Noonan policy advisor policy-advising presidential anti-intellectualism presidential rhetoric presidential speechwriting Princeton problem Public Papers Raymond Moley Reagan responsibility rhetorical presidency rhetorical simplification scholars sentence simplicity speaking special assistant speech speechwriters speechwriting office strategy style substantive talk Ted Sorensen television Theodore Roosevelt tion today’s Truman Tulis Tulis’s Union address University Press Washington Welliver White House White House speechwriting William Woodrow Wilson writing York