Richard Nixon: Rhetorical Strategist

(Hardback)

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Description

Although much has been written about Richard Nixon the man and the politician, comparatively little attention has been paid to Nixon the public speaker. It was also through public speaking that President Nixon attempted to defend himself against charges related to the Watergate incident and sought to save himself from impeachment. When his rhetorical efforts failed to rouse popular support, he had no choice but to resign. This volume examines the combination of personal characteristics and artistic choices that made Richard M. Nixon a successful, albeit extremely controversial, public speaker from 1946 to the present. The study of Nixon's rhetoric is the study of many important issues, from the alleged threat of subversive communism to Vietnam to Watergate, confronting American from 1946 to 1974. It is also the study of the man himself because Nixon took an active role in the composition of all his important addresses.

Reviews

A great idea - Nixon, private and introverted, built (and ended) his political career on the strength of public speaking. Bochin examines the personal characteristics and rhetorical choices that made Nixon a (mostly) successful, if controversial, public speaker from 1946 to the present.-Reference & Research Book News
"A great idea - Nixon, private and introverted, built (and ended) his political career on the strength of public speaking. Bochin examines the personal characteristics and rhetorical choices that made Nixon a (mostly) successful, if controversial, public speaker from 1946 to the present."-Reference & Research Book News

Author Bio

HAL W. BOCHIN is Professor of Speech Communication at California State University, Fresno. He is co-author of Hiram Johnson: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood Press, 1988), and has contributed articles and essays to American Orators Before 1900 (Greenwood Press, 1987), In Search of Justice, and Communication Education.