Since its formation, the Speech Communication Association's Committee on Freedom of Speech has played a critical leadership role in course offerings, research efforts, and regional activities in freedom of speech. Areas in which research has been done and in which further research should be carried out include: historical-critical research, in…

Studies the composition of Roosevelt's fourth inaugural address from its inception to its delivery on January 20, 1945. Clarifies the confusion about authorship and analyzes the speech drafts to determine which thoughts were FDR's and which were contributed by speech writers. Includes verbatim transcript of the address. (PD)

Ronald Reagan's rise from political neophyte to Republican candidate for governor of California in 1966 was characterized by a public relations strategy, which was bolstered by "The Speech," a 30-minute anti-big government, defense-of-freedom message. He presented this message appropriately to each audience to identify himself with…

Rhetorical norms of early McCarthyist discourse reveal a reliance upon images of chaos and the body. Through such metaphors, rhetors crafted a model of discussion that feminized "democracy" and "tolerance" to support anti-Communist measures and de-legitimize their opponents. Political variety was coded as deviant to national…

A speech in response to an individual's death is by nature a recurring form of rhetoric. Based on audience expectations and needs, certain generic aspects have emerged to characterize eulogies. The funeral oration has generally been recognized as a form of epideictic rhetoric. Modern scholars have generally broadly defined epideictic rhetoric to…

Testing Kenneth Burke's theory on dramatistic frames, the attitudes and motivations reflected in the rhetoric of Watergate participants were analyzed in terms of literary forms: epic, tragic, comic, elegiac, satiric, burlesque, grotesque, and didactic. Nixon tried to transcend the Watergate conflict by stressing the greatness of his achievements…

The focus of the dramatistic approach as a method of rhetorical criticism is the message rather than the speaker, audience, or situation. Using the approach developed by Ernest Bormann, the rhetorical critic examines man's symbolic reality and reacts to it by looking for strategies that are inherent in certain dramas. Conspiracy dramas are popular…

A mythic interpretive framework can explain how the use of an uncontested term--a word which "seems to invite a contest, but which apparently is not so regarded in its own context"--is legitimated and perpetuated. By examining John C. Calhoun's nullification rhetoric as a case study of political myth (specifically his "Disquisition…

The Know-Nothing party of the 1850s was the first nativist party in American politics to gain importance and serves as an exemplar of how cultural nativism may be captured and turned toward political goals. The resurgence of nativist sentiment in the Know-Nothing era provides an excellent example of a rhetorical situation which seriously…

In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of its satellite regimes, Poland, among other nations, has been engaged in a process of wholesale national reinvention. An analysis of this reinvention is instructive for scholars of language because it is largely a rhetorical process. It is aimed at supplying a new set of collectively…

Many scholars have examined the jeremiad in American rhetoric and political discourse. The Hanford Education Action League (HEAL), which influenced policy changes in the operations of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, is a social movement organization whose founding members used the jeremiad to create a symbolic community which…

President Richard Nixon decided in 1970 to commission the construction of a fleet of reusable space shuttles. Nixon's rhetoric on the space shuttle program (examined here in the light of Kenneth Burke's theory of symbolic action) shows how a philosophy of pragmatism was crafted out of a philosophy of wonderment. That one cannot now remember…

Analysis of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's philosophy and rhetoric during a particular campaign for social change will show that his strategies for social change, commonly referred to as "Satyagraha," are rooted in a unique rhetorical perspective. Gandhi repeatedly warned against the use of violent speech and acts, and he has prescribed…

Although for the 15 years preceding his election as President of the United States Ronald Reagan muted his anti-Soviet rhetoric in order to achieve political power, since his election he has returned to anti-Sovietism in an effort to redirect American foreign policy against the Soviets. At the same time, however, he employs a rhetorical strategy…

Examines how the timing of Virginia's Ratification Convention twisted the principles of presumption and burden of proof in favor of the Federalists. Applies Richard Whately's rhetorical constructs to actual debates to analyze rhetorical strategies and voting behavior. Argues the need to modify the meaning of presumption and burden of proof. (KEH)