The Inaugural Addresses of Twentieth-Century American Presidents

(Hardback)

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The essays in Halford Ryan's The Inaugrual Addresses of Twentieth-Century American Presidents explore how presidents have used their addresses to empower themselves in office. The volume's construct holds that the president delivers persuasive speeches to move the Congress and the people, and to move the people to move the Congress if it is intransigent. Even on Inauguration Day, a largely ceremonial occasion, the president seeks acquiescence and action from Congress and the people in his first rhetorical deed as the nation's chief executive officer. Since scholars agree that the rhetorical presidency arose in the twentieth century with Theodore Roosevelt, the book commences with Roosevelt's address, followed by all subsequent presidents' inaugurals--including that of Bill Clinton. The authors' methodology applies classical rhetoric to the nexus of political discourse--the interrelationships between the speaker, the speech, and the audience--discussing vox populi, elocutio, inventio, and actio. Each of the chapters analyzes the political situation with regard to political purpose, giving special attention to genre criticism and to the themes of campaign rhetoric that were or were not carried forth into the inaugural address. The essayists explicate the evolution of each inaugural's preparation, criticize its delivery, and evaluate its persuasive strengths and weaknesses by accounting for its reception by the media and by the American people. Recommended for scholars of political communication and rhetoric, political science, history, and presidential studies.

Reviews

A welcome addition to the growing literature on the rhetorical presidency. The analyses on the various inaugural addresses are fascinating, especially in terms of the address preparation and degree of importance attached to the address by the president. Of interest to undergraduates and graduate students of the presidency, political communication or journalism.-Choice
In their inaugural addresses American presidents try to shape public opinion and encourage Congressional action on the office holder's legislative agenda. This volume, edited by a professor of speech at Washington and Lee University, presents well-researched, scholarly essays on all 20th-century inaugural addresses. Areas of analysis are the content of each speech, its composition process, the president's delivery of the text, and the public's reaction. The best sections cover the addresses of Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower's 1957 speech, Johnson, and Reagan. Of particular interest are the chapters discussing why Nixon's and Reagan's second addresses, as well as Carter's inaugural, are regarded as failures. Clinton's address did not make it in this volume. Overall, the book is an excellent addition to the field of political communications and is recommended to all academic libraries.-Library Journal
"A welcome addition to the growing literature on the rhetorical presidency. The analyses on the various inaugural addresses are fascinating, especially in terms of the address preparation and degree of importance attached to the address by the president. Of interest to undergraduates and graduate students of the presidency, political communication or journalism."-Choice
"In their inaugural addresses American presidents try to shape public opinion and encourage Congressional action on the office holder's legislative agenda. This volume, edited by a professor of speech at Washington and Lee University, presents well-researched, scholarly essays on all 20th-century inaugural addresses. Areas of analysis are the content of each speech, its composition process, the president's delivery of the text, and the public's reaction. The best sections cover the addresses of Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower's 1957 speech, Johnson, and Reagan. Of particular interest are the chapters discussing why Nixon's and Reagan's second addresses, as well as Carter's inaugural, are regarded as failures. Clinton's address did not make it in this volume. Overall, the book is an excellent addition to the field of political communications and is recommended to all academic libraries."-Library Journal

Author Bio

HALFORD RYAN is Professor of Public Speaking, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia./e He teaches courses in American public address and presidential rhetoric. He has co-edited, edited, or authored ten books, three of which are Franklin D. Roosevelt's Rhetorical Presidency (Greenwood, 1988), Classical Communication for the Contemporary Communicator, and Harry S. Truman's Presidential Rhetoric (Greenwood, 1993).