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This book explores speeches by American presidents. Domestic public presidential speechmaking helps us understand the pressures, priorities, and targeted audiences of different presidencies. Many administrations generally work to reinforce already existing support though some may try to reach out to new areas. Census areas help us better understand where presidents prioritize speeches in certain areas of the country. Designated Market Areas, or media markets, allow us to look at presidential speechmaking without geographical constraints and focus on areas of population concentrations. Electoral College results show that most administrations prefer to give speeches in places where they have the most electoral support to reinforce their bases. The chapter on vacation locations explores how some presidents use Camp David or their homes as places to actively speak, while some administrations just use them as retreats. Foreign speeches allow us to see that most presidents prefer to speak in openly free countries more than other places.
List of contents
1. Overview.- 2. Growth in Speechmaking.- 3. Census Regions.- 4. Media Markets.- 5. Electoral College Results.- 6. Presidents Abroad: Foreign Speeches.- 7. All Work and No Play: How Presidents Use Vacation Locations.- 8. Conclusion.
About the author
Shannon Bow O'Brien is a Lecturer in the Government Department at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Summary
Analyzes data on White House communication strategies over 70 years from Truman to Obama through the lens of geographic speech locations
Shows how presidents make choices about where to go, how those choices change across time and context, and the impact of those choices upon their presidency
Shows how some presidents like Nixon spent about half his presidency at vacation locations while Obama barely spent any time at all
Appeals to scholars and students of Political Science, Communication, History, and American Studies
Additional text
“The innovative perspective and the in-depth analysis of speech locations make the book a useful resource for researchers and specialists in politics, rhetoric, critical discourse analysis, and media studies.” (Liangping Wu and Xinhua Yuan, Journal of Language and Politics, Vol. 19 (3), 2020)
“The information presented in this book will be a valuable resource for presidential scholars. O’Brien has gathered data that will ease the path of scholars continuing this research.” (Karen S. Hoffman, Congress & the Presidency, Vol. 46 (2), 2019)
Report
"The innovative perspective and the in-depth analysis of speech locations make the book a useful resource for researchers and specialists in politics, rhetoric, critical discourse analysis, and media studies." (Liangping Wu and Xinhua Yuan, Journal of Language and Politics, Vol. 19 (3), 2020)
"The information presented in this book will be a valuable resource for presidential scholars. O'Brien has gathered data that will ease the path of scholars continuing this research." (Karen S. Hoffman, Congress & the Presidency, Vol. 46 (2), 2019)
