D R A F T -- this syllabus is still under construction (last revised 17 February 2002)
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SpCom 597C – Spring 2002 |
Professor Thomas W. Benson |
A graduate seminar in rhetorical history and criticism with an emphasis on audience-centered close reading of presidential speeches in historical, institutional, and generic contexts. Students will read widely in the scholarship of presidential rhetoric and will write an extended seminar paper on a presidential speech.
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(1) Tuesday, 8 January |
Introduction – the rhetoric of the presidency and the rhetorical presidency
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(2) Thursday, 10 January |
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The preliminaries. Read Paul M. Angle, ed., The Complete Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858, ix – 101; David Zarefsky, Lincoln, Douglas, and Slavery, 1-67.
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(3) Tuesday, 15 January |
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Read the debates at Ottawa, Freeport, and Jonesboro in Angle, 102-231; Zarefsky, chapters 3 and 4, 68-140.
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(4) Thursday, 17 January |
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Read the debates at Charleston and Galesburg in Angle, 232-321; Zarefsky, chapters 5 and 6, 141-197. Topic for seminar paper due.
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(5) Tuesday, 22 January |
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Read the debates at Quincy and Alton in Angle, 322-408; Zarefsky, chapters 7 and 8, 198-246.
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(6) Thursday, 24 January |
The Gettysburg Address. In Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, read the address, 261, 263, and Wills’s prologue, 19-40.
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(7) Tuesday, 29 January |
The Gettysburg Address. Finish reading and conclude discussion of Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg.
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(8) Thursday, 31 January |
Research proposal due for seminar paper. Research questions, context, preliminary sketch of textual analysis, working bibliography (6-8 pages).
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(9) Tuesday, 5 February |
The Rhetorical Presidency. Read Jeffrey Tulis, The Rhetorical Presidency, introduction and chapters 1-4, pages 3-116; Speech: Theodore Roosevelt, “The Man with the Muckrake,” 14 April 1906.
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(10) Thursday, 7 February |
The Rhetorical Presidency, chapters 5-7, pages 117-204; Woodrow Wilson, War Message, 12 April 1917; Woodrow Wilson, “The League of Nations,” Pueblo, Colorado, 25 September 1919.Ronald Reagan, the “star wars” speech, 23 March 1983. Suggested reading: Olson, Kathryn M. "Rhetoric and the American President." Review of Richard J. Ellis, editor. Speaking to the People: The Rhetorical Presidency in Historical Perspective. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998. The Review of Communication 1, no. 2 (2001): 247-53.
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(11) Tuesday, 12 February |
Deeds Done in Words Read Campbell and Jamieson, Deeds Done in Words, 1-5, pages 1-100;
Speeches: Lyndon B. Johnson, address before a joint session of Congress,
27 November 1963; Harry S. Truman, speech on assuming the office of president,
16 April 1945; Gerald R. Ford, speech on assuming the office of president,
9 August 1974; William Jefferson Clinton, Inaugural Address.
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(12) Thursday, 14 February |
Deeds Done in Words Read Deeds Done in Words, chapters 6-11, pages 101-222; Speeches:
George Washington, “Farewell
Address”; Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Farewell Address,” 17 January 1961;
Woodrow Wilson, War
Message, 12 April 1917; Franklin D. Roosevelt, War Message, 8 December
1941; Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat on the War, 23 February 1942
[see also maps]; Richard M. Nixon, on departure
from the White House, 9 August 1974; Richard M. Nixon, on resignation
from office, 8 August 1974.
FDR, Fireside Chat, 1933 |
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(13) Tuesday, 19 February |
The Sound of Leadership
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(14) Thursday, 21 February |
The Sound of Leadership
Richard Nixon with Checkers, 1957 |
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(15) Tuesday, 26 February |
Presidential Speechwriting To hear an excerpt from the Four Freedoms speech, click
Please read the Four Freedoms speech and bring a copy to class for discussion. |
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(16) Thursday, 28 February |
Presidential Speechwriting
To hear President Kennedy's speech to the American Society
of Newspaper Editors |
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March 4 – 8 |
Spring Break – no classes
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(17) Tuesday, 12 March |
conferences on seminar papers |
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(18) Thursday, 14 March |
Read Garth Pauley, The Modern Presidency and Civil Rights, chapters 1-3,
pages 1-104; speech: Dwight Eisenhower, civil rights, 24 September 1957.
Class will discuss this on the listserv
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(19) Tuesday, 19 March |
The Modern Presidency and Civil Rights The Modern Presidency and Civil Rights Read Pauley, The Modern Presidency and Civil Rights, chapter 4, pages
105-158; speech: John F. Kennedy, civil
rights, 11 June 1963.
Read Pauley, The Modern Presidency and Civil Rights, chapters 5-6, pages
159-220; speech: Lyndon B. Johnson, “We Shall Overcome,” 15 March 1965.
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(20) Thursday, 21 March |
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(21) Tuesday, 26 March |
Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency Read Medhurst, Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency, introduction and chapters 1 and 2, pages xi-xxv and 3-30; speeches: George Bush, first state of the union address, 1990; William Clinton, address to the Congress on health care, 22 September 1993; George Washington, Inaugural Address; Jimmy Carter, Inaugural Address.
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(22) Thursday, 28 March |
Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency Read Medhurst, chapters 3-6, pages 31-121; speeches: Richard Nixon, "The Silent Majority," 3 November 1969; Richard Nixon, resignation speech.
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(23) Tuesday, 2 April |
Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency Read Medhurst, chapters 7-10, and afterword, pages 122-226; speeches:
Ronald Reagan on Iran-Contra, 4 March 1987; George Bush on the Gulf War,
8 November 1990.
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(24) Thursday, 4 April |
Discussion of seminar papers |
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(25) Tuesday, 9 April |
Discussion of seminar papers |
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(26) Thursday, 11 April |
Discussion of seminar papers
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| Friday, 12 April | Trip to Gettysburg National Historic Park | ||
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(27) Tuesday, 16 April |
Discussion of seminar papers
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(28) Thursday, 18 April |
Discussion of seminar papers
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(29) Tuesday, 23 April |
Discussion of seminar papers
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(30) Thursday, 25 April |
Eastern Communication Association, New York – no class meeting.
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Monday, 29 April |
First day of final examinations – seminar paper due.
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| Seminar Paper |
Seminar Paper:
You are asked to prepare a major, article-length seminar paper--a rhetorical
analysis of a single presidential speech. Subject the message to a close textual
analysis, situated in whatever contexts (theoretical, situational, historical,
institutional, generic) seem appropriate to support interpretive work. A central
feature of the seminar will be the sequential preparation of the paper, followed
by shared editorial consultation and thorough rewriting. The product will,
it is hoped, be a manuscript that might be thought of as an "expanded"
journal article, which, with some judicious cutting, could be submitted for
publication review to a journal. The manuscript will be "expanded"
in the sense that it will probably contain a more extended review of context
and earlier scholarship, and perhaps more detailed description, than some editors
would have space for in a journal.
Major dates for paper development (all these assignments are due, typed, double-spaced, one side of paper only, with a title page, on the dates indicated):
January 17. Topic due, in writing. Briefly identify the text you wish to analyze and the central critical problems or questions you wish to investigate. What is the text? Where is it available? What, at this point, strike you as issues, questions, or problems worth investigating? (1-2 pages) It is strongly suggested that you talk with me before choosing a text for analysis. In any case, do not choose a text that you have written on for another class, or one that is assigned reading for this seminar.
January 31. Research proposal. (6-8 pages) A description of the topic you have chosen, the central question you will address in your analysis, the significance of your study, critical procedures that seem likely to be productive, relevant theoretical and methodological considerations, description of relevant context, definitions of key terms, brief identification of the scholarly literatures most likely to contextualize your study (previous studies of your text, of similar texts, of similar questions, theoretical perspectives, descriptions of method or uses of methods similar to those you propose). By this time, you should have made at least a preliminary search of the relevant books and journal articles relating to your topic, and you should have consulted the resources of the National Archives and the presidential libraries, where possible. Include a preliminary bibliography in your proposal and, if relevant, a budget for acquiring primary archival documents.
March 21. First draft of paper due. A complete and finished version of the paper, suitable for formal review. Include title page, abstract, paper, endnotes if any, and list of works cited.
March 26 - April 9. Editorial reviews of first draft. Each student will read and respond in writing to several other student papers with suggestions for revisions.
April 4 - April 23. Final oral reports to class.
April 29. Seminar paper due.
Paper
Style. You may submit your seminar paper in APA, MLA, or
Chicago Manual of Style format -- be sure to have access to the appropriate
style guide and follow it from the first paper.
| Grades |
Grades.
All elements of your work in the seminar will be considered in formulating a
final grade for the course--participation (in-class and on-line) 20%; written
work (including first and final drafts of the seminar paper, progressive development
of various stages of the paper, and editorial comments on peer reviewed papers)
80%.
| Academic Integrity |
Academic
Integrity. Submission of all written work in this course
is taken to imply that the work is your own unless otherwise indicated. Please
be careful to document the work of others where appropriate. Under no circumstances
submit for credit in this course any work that has been submitted in other courses.
Be careful not to deface any library materials that you use in preparing your
work for the seminar. In selecting a text for critical analysis for your seminar
paper, do not write about a text that is part of the syllabus of other courses
you have taken without special permission.
| Electronic Mail |
Electronic
Mail and Class Electronic Discussion.
The primary discussions in this seminar will be conducted face-to-face, on Tuesday
and Thursday afternoons, and throughout the rest of the week on the computer.
Although it is hoped that participation will be intense and ongoing, at least
the following deadlines must be met: A contribution to discussion 24 hours before
each class meeting, in which you offer some questions on the reading to be discussed
for the session (with supporting citations, thoughts, or suggestions) for possible
discussion in class or on-line. You are also invited to participate in ongoing
follow-up, on-line conversations that extend some aspect of class discussion
or raise an issue that did not make it into the discussion. In your contributions,
please try to frame a proposition or question for discussion, relate it to some
part of the readings, quote or paraphrase the relevant passage in the reading
(including a page reference), and sketch a reasoned discussion-opener. In these
conversations, your opinions are important, but we should also work beyond mere
clash (or coincidence) of opinion to mutual enlightenment and a shared willingness
to learn new ways of thinking. Send your notes for class discussion to the Listserv
address l-spcom597c@lists.psu.edu
If you use more than one e-mail account, I can list more than one address for
you.
| Readings |
Angle, Paul M., ed. The Complete Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Deeds Done in Words:
Presidential Rhetoric and the Genres of Governance. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1990.
Hart, Roderick P. The Sound of Leadership: Presidential Communication in
the Modern Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Medhurst, Martin J., ed. Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency. College Station,
TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1996.
Pauley, Garth E. The Modern Presidency and Civil Rights: Rhetoric on Race
from Roosevelt to Nixon. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press,
2001.
Tulis, Jeffrey K. The Rhetorical Presidency. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1987.
Wills, Garry. Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America. New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Zarefsky, David. Lincoln, Douglas, and Slavery: In the Crucible of Public
Debate. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
A few articles will be placed on reserve or otherwise supplied to you for assigned
readings; presidential speeches assigned for reading that are not otherwise
available may be found in the Public Papers of the President series.
It is expected, in addition, that you will pursue an active course of readings
related to the topic of your own seminar paper.
| Links |
A great deal of documentary and photographic material on presidential rhetoric
is now available on-line. A few of the most useful links are listed below; please
share your own discoveries with the rest of the seminar.
The Collected Works of Abraham
Lincoln
National Archives and Records Administration
Many archival documents are available on-line; also use this link to find the
presidential libraries, whose collections may be searched on-line.
The
American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara (you
will need a password--please visit the site as early as possible in the semester
and apply for your password, as this is an excellent source for presidential
speeches and related documents).
The White House
The Douglass Archives of American
Public Address at Northwestern University
The Speech Archive
at the Program in Presidential Rhetoric, Texas A&M University
The American Memory project at the Library
of Congress
