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Harry Truman is famous for his plain speaking, and his presidential rhetoric is evaluated in this reference in terms of his most important speeches relating to the Cold War, the Korean War, and themes that helped him win a remarkable election victory in 1948. This in-depth analysis of his major presidential speeches, collection of his most important addresses, chronology of speeches during his presidency, and bibliography will give students, scholars, and professionals in communications and mass media, political science, and American history new insights into this interesting president and important period in American history.
Professor Ryan examines Presidents Truman's speeches and addresses from 1945 to 1953, closely showing how his Truman Doctrine speech and Inaugural Address sounded the leit motifs of Manichaean, SuperNation rhetoric that innervated the Cold War. His rhetoric on the Korean War burdened his presidency because it held to an early military definition of the war. His exchanges with General Douglas MacArthur were oblique rather than frontal attacks, which presented further problems. His whistle-stop election campaign against Thomas E. Dewey and his valedictory address are used also to assess his rhetorical themes and expression and their effectiveness. The chronology and bibliography are framed also to help researchers dealing with materials in a presidential library.
List of contents
Harry S. Truman
Introduction
The Truman Doctrine
The Korean Quagmire
The President vs. the General
Doing Unto Dewey
Point Four
Conclusion
Collected Speeches
The Truman Doctrine
Acceptance Speech
Doctor Dewey and the Republican Record
Inaugural Address
Chronology of Speeches
Bibliography
Index
About the author
HALFORD R. RYAN is Professor of Public Speaking at Washington and Lee University, Virginia. He is the author of American Rhetoric from Roosevelt to Reagan: A Collection of Speeches and Critical Essays, and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Rhetorical Presidency (Greenwood Press,1988). He has contributed extensively to the Quarterly Journal of Speech, the Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Speaker and Gavel.
