On May 31, 1897, William James, one of America's most influential philosophers and psychologists, delivered the first civic oration of his career. The principal orator at the dedication of the Robert Gould Shaw memorial in Boston, James did what commemorative speakers are not supposed to do. He chose to be confrontational and divisive in a…

From 1909 to 1910, the public performance of soap-box oratory began to effect dramatic changes in the composition of migrant workers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Municipal authorities in Spokane attempted to curb the formation of a union of hobo orators by outlawing public speech-making within the city fire limits. The ensuing confrontation…

Parody and related forms of political humor are essential resources for sustaining democratic public culture. They do so by exposing the limits of public speech, transforming discursive demands into virtual images, setting those images before a carnivalesque audience, and celebrating social leveling while decentering all discourses within the…

Faced with a racialized political crisis that threatened to derail his campaign to become the first African American president of the United States, Barack Obama delivered a speech on race titled "A More Perfect Union." He begins by portraying himself as an embodiment of double consciousness, but then invites his audience to share his…

This essay attempts to sort out and evaluate some commonly held notions about British debate and debaters in the light of my experience and it makes recommendations and suggests means by which the SCA could more fully utilize the tour." (Author)

Describes the employment of surrogate speakers and examines their role in the 1980 presidential contest. Considers the advantages and disadvantages of their use and concludes that surrogates served the important needs of three groups--the candidates for whom they spoke, the audiences they addressed, and the surrogates themselves. (PD)

Seeks to accomplish two tasks related to "voice." Clarifies the conceptual confusion regarding "voice" found in the literature by relating it to a tension between "speaking" and "language." Avoids this tension by presenting a case study in which a notion of "voice" is posited that is constitutive…

Notes that the contemporary aversion to or disinterest in orality, performance, and delivery in the study of rhetoric and public address ignores the centrality of these elements in the history and prehistory of the discipline. Considers how this oversight is particularly puzzling when considering scholarly examination of the origins and early…

Examines the writing of Pliny the Younger as representative of rhetorical theory and practice in the period between Quintilian and Fronto. Points out that Pliny's ideas on speech preparation, invention and arrangement, style, and delivery give answers to some of the timeless questions of rhetoric. (PD)

Emphasizes the complementary nature of the work of the rhetorical historian and the rhetorical critic. (MH)

Examines various types of evidence to determine how much and what type of rhetorical training a student would have received in the medieval schools. (MH)

Maintains that John Quincy Adams'"Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory" and Adams Sherman Hill's "Principles of Rhetoric" reveal significant differences in what their authors perceive to be the most salient environmental conditions facing their students. (JK)

Analyzes speeches in which Reagan challenges the following convention: science will continue to create technologically advanced weapons against which no effective defense will be developed, making deterrence through an assured retaliatory capability the only possible defense. Textual analysis reveals how public discourse can achieve unities of…

Views Reagan's "Star Wars" address as part of the culturally evolving myth of the New Frontier. Discusses how the speech creates the illusion of both preserving and transcending science by (1) subordinating technical reasoning to prevent nuclear holocaust and (2) using technoscience to rescript history and remove temporal and spacial…

Contradictions between American ideal and practice are examined in so far as they are reflected in our rhetoric, especially the polarization factor in radical rhetorical terms like racist" and other moralizing usages. (AF)