Since its identification in 1981, the rhetorical presidency has drawn
both defenders and critics. Chief among those critical of the practice
is political theorist Jeffrey K. Tulis, whose 1987 book, The
Rhetorical Presidency, helped popularize the construct and set
forth a sustained analysis of the baleful effects that have allegedly
accompanied the shift from a "constitutional" presidency to a
"rhetorical" one.
Tulis locates this shift in the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt
and Woodrow Wilson, arguing that the rhetorical presidency is a
twentieth-century phenomenon. Yet not all scholars agree with this
assessment. Before the Rhetorical Presidency is an attempt
to investigate how U.S. presidents in the nineteenth century
communicated with their publics, both congressional and popular.
In part 1, Martin J. Medhurst, Mel Laracey, Jeffrey K. Tulis, and
Stephen E. Lucas set forth differing perspectives on how the
rhetorical presidency ought to be understood and evaluated. In part
2, eleven scholars of nineteenth-century presidential rhetoric
investigate the presidencies of Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James
K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson,
Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, Grover
Cleveland, and William McKinley.
As the first volume ever to focus on nineteenth-century presidents
from a rhetorical perspective, Before the Rhetorical Presidency
examines administrations, policies, and events that have never before
been subjected to rhetorical analysis. The sometimes startling
outcomes of these investigations reveal the need for continuing debate
over the nature, practices, and effects of the rhetorical presidency.
In a brief afterword, Medhurst raises eight challenges to the
original formulation of the rhetorical presidency and in so doing sets
forth an agenda for future studies.
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MARTIN J. MEDHURST served as founding editor for the
Presidential Rhetoric Series and was the prime mover behind ten
annual conferences on presidential rhetoric held at Texas A&M
University. He is now Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric and
Communication at Baylor University.
Number Nineteen: Presidential Rhetoric Series
Of Related Interest
