The Rhetorical Presidency of George H. W. Bush

by Medhurst, Martin J.

• ISBN13: 9781585444717
• ISBN10: 1585444715
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-20
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

For George H. W. Bush, the distinction between campaigning ("politics") and governing ("principles") was crucial. Once in office, he abandoned his campaign mode and with it the rhetorical strategies that had brought electoral success. Not recognizing the importance of rhetoric to policy formation and implementation, Bush forfeited the resources of the bully pulpit and paid the price of electoral defeat. Here, scholars explore the first Gulf War, the fall of the Berlin wall, the "New World Order," Bush's "education presidency," his environmental stance, the "vision thing," and the influence of the Religious Right. The volume concludes with an analysis of the 1992 re-election campaign and Bush's last-gasp use of economic rhetoric. The contributors draw on the resources of the Bush Presidential Library and interviews with many of Bush's White House aides. They also suggest how embracing the art of rhetoric might have allowed Bush to respond more successfully. The Rhetorical Presidency of George H. W. Bush breaks important ground for our understanding of the forty-first president's time in office and the reasons it ended so quickly.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	IX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	XI
CHAPTER 1. Why Rhetoric Matters: George H.W. Bush in the White House	3	(16)
By Martin J. Medhurst
CHAPTER 2. George Bush's Struggle with the "Vision Thing"	19	(18)
By Catherine L. Langford
CHAPTER 3. And the Wall Came Tumbling Down: Bush's Rhetoric of Silence during German Reunification	37	(19)
By William Forrest Harlow
CHAPTER 4. Agency and Agent in George Bush's Gulf Rhetoric	56	(25)
By Rachel Martin Harlow
CHAPTER 5. The New World Order: President Bush and the Post—Cold War Era	81	(21)
By Roy Joseph
CHAPTER 6. Political Truancy: George Bush's Claim to the Mantle of "Education President"	102	(17)
By Holly G. McIntush
CHAPTER 7. Prudence, Procrastination, or Politics: George Bush and the Earth Summit 1992	119	(30)
By Martin Carcasson
CHAPTER 8. George Bush and the Religious Right	149	(22)
By Amy Tilton Jones
CHAPTER 9. Economically Speaking: George Bush and the Price of Perception	171	(26)
By Wynton C. Hall
AFTERWORD: Evaluating the Rhetorical Presidency of George H.W. Bush	197	(4)
By Martin J. Medhurst
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS	201	(2)
INDEX	203