Issues of wilderness and wetlands preservation, clean air and clean 
water, and the sustainable use of natural resources have figured 
prominently in American political debate of the twentieth century. 
Presidents since Theodore Roosevelt have addressed these issues, 
rhetorically in their public addresses and pragmatically in their 
policies and appointments to pertinent positions.

    Green Talk in the White House gathers an array of approaches 
to studying environmental rhetoric and the presidency, covering a 
range of administrations and a diversity of viewpoints on how the 
concept of the "rhetorical presidency" may be modified in this 
policy area.

    Tarla Rai Peterson's introduction to the book discusses both 
methodological and substantive issues in studying presidential 
rhetoric on the environment. In subsequent chapters, noted scholars 
examine various aspects of half a dozen modern presidencies to
shed light not only on those administrations but also on the study
of environmental rhetoric itself. The final section of the book then 
directs attention to the future of presidential rhetoric and 
environmental governance, with looks "in" at state-level 
environmental issues and looks "out" at the international context of 
environmentalism.

_________________________________________________________

TARLA RAI PETERSON, who lives in Murray, Utah, is a professor of 
communication at the University of Utah.


Number Eleven: Presidential Rhetoric Series