"How can the immigrant of yesterday be lionized as the very 
foundation of the nation's character, while the immigrant of today is 
often demonized as a threat to the nation's safety and stability?" asks 
volume editor Vanessa B. Beasley in her introduction to this timely 
book.

    Through their rhetoric, presidents help to create the frame for the 
American public's understanding of immigration. In an overarching 
essay and ten case studies, Who Belongs in America? explores 
select moments in U.S. immigration history, focusing on the 
presidential discourse that preceded, addressed, or otherwise 
corresponded to events.

    These chapters share a common interest in how, when, and under 
what circumstances U.S. presidents or their administrations have 
negotiated the tension that lies at the heart of the immigration issue. 
The various authors look at the dual views of immigrants as either 
symbols of hope and opportunity or as scapegoats for cultural fears, 
especially during trying times, and consider how U.S. presidents have 
navigated between these two motifs.

    Since 9/11, few issues have more public significance than how 
America views immigrants. The contributors to this volume provide 
context that will help inform the public debate, as well as the 
scholarship, for years to come.

_________________________________________________________

VANESSA B. BEASLEY, who teaches at Vanderbilt University in 
Nashville, is the author of You, the People: American National 
Identity in Presidential Rhetoric, also published by Texas A&M 
University Press. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Texas at Austin.


Number Sixteen: Presidential Rhetoric Series


What people are saying about this book

"Not only does this book fill in a major gap in the rhetorical literature 
on the presidency, it does so with scholarly grace, clarity, and 
distinction. . . . [The essays] probe important issues and periods, 
and the analyses they undertake will challenge scholars to pay 
more attention to a singularly important, but too often overlooked
area."—Steven R. Goldzwig, Marquette University