Argues that the nuclear threat is fundamentally a textual problem, a problem created and perpetuated by argumentative and rhetorical practices. Maintains that argument critics need to formulate a politically powerful "nuclear criticism" in order to subvert and dismantle argument formations which might motivate nations to engage in…

Examines the ironic "problems" of the 1989 Hollywood film "Fat Man and Little Boy" (portraying the construction of the atomic bomb at the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II) to demonstrate the ideological operations of nuclear texts, and the role of the nuclear weapons organization as a symbolic form in cultural…

Traces the theoretical significance of using names as titles for situations, and applies this analysis to the United States' intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programs. Argues that the names given to ICBMs preserve their utility as weapons by linking them to the myths of the nineteenth-century western frontier. (MM)

Examines "nukespeak," the use of metaphor, euphemism, technical jargon, and acronyms to portray nuclear concepts in a neutral or positive way. Identifies two nukespeak strategies: domestication and bureaucratization. Uses two cases of nukespeak strategy by Ronald Reagan to illustrate the implications of nukespeak for the audience. (MM)

Uses Kenneth Burke's theory of perfection to explore the vocabularies of nuclear weapons in United States public discourse and how "the Bomb" as a God term has gained imbalanced ascendancy in centers of power. (MS)

Nukespeak--euphemisms or jargon that serve to hide the horrific nature of nuclear weapons systems and nuclear war--uses the strategies of domestication and bureaucratization to represent itself to the public. Domestication employs everyday language to introduce nuclear concepts into public discourse in a non-threatening manner, as when President…

Examines speech delivered by President Eisenhower to General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1953. Demonstrates how a complex rhetorical situation resulted in the crafting and exploitation of a public policy address. Speech bolstered international image of the United States as peacemaker, warned the Soviets against a preemptive nuclear…

The symbolic presence of Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) has been and continues to be the pivot point in all summitry rhetoric between the American President and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. To examine some of the rhetorical choices made by Gorbachev to dramatize his vision of why Ronald Reagan refuses to…