For a century and a half the words of presidents have framed, 
expressed, and sometimes challenged the civil rights policies of 
America.

    The eleven essays in this book examine the ways in which 
American presidents and their administrations have defined the 
meaning of civil rights from Rutherford B. Hayes to William Jefferson 
Clinton.

    Using a variety of methodologies, the book's contributors 
examine:

• the depressing tale of how the Southern Redeemer presidents 
from Hayes to McKinley abandoned the promise of civil rights and 
reestablished the racial class system;
• the eugenics of Calvin Coolidge's race rhetoric;
• the creative rhetorical invention of Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry 
Truman that laid the foundation for a positive reconstitution of the 
American community;
• the much-debated civil rights legacy of John F. Kennedy's 
administration; and
• the efforts by conservative presidents to redefine the civil rights 
legacy in their own terms.

    The book's closing chapter analyzes President Clinton's 1997–98 
Race Initiative and its failure, drawing conclusions about the role of 
presidential rhetoric in the near future of civil rights.

    Whether for individual enlightenment or for course use, readers 
will find the book opens new paths for exploring a central American 
dilemma.

_________________________________________________________

JAMES ARNT AUNE and ENRIQUE D. RIGSBY are both on the 
faculty of Texas A&M University's Department of Communication. 
They served as coordinators of the annual conference in presidential 
rhetoric devoted to civil rights rhetoric that led to this volume.


Number Twelve: Presidential Rhetoric Series


What people are saying about this book

"There is not a comparable collection out there, and it includes some 
very, very fine pieces of scholarship."—John Murphy, University of 
Georgia