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Abstract: The main objective of this master’s thesis is to compare the traditional and rhetorical presidency in the United States of America, focusing on milestones and the reasons for them. Another objective is to analyze different presidential speeches and their evolvement throughout history and different events. The master’s thesis presents an analysis of two presidential speeches given by the 25th American president William McKinley. The speeches were analyzed with regards to classical rhetorical elements based on Leith (2012), who summarizes classical rhetorical principles based on Aristotle’s Rhetoric (Aristotle ,1992) The analysis provides evidence of the shift from traditional to the rhetorical presidency, which occurred during the final stages of William McKinley’s presidency when he served as the American leader in the Spanish – American war. A handful of authors have mentioned McKinley (e.g. Robert Saldin, 2011) as the transitional president in American presidential rhetoric, however, the general literature still portrays Theodore Roosevelt as such. The analysis will provide rhetorical evidence to disprove the theory which considers Roosevelt as the beginner of the rhetorical presidency.
Keywords: Rhetoric, presidency, traditional presidency, rhetorical presidency, William McKinley, Sam Leith, speeches
Published in DKUM: 10.05.2021; Views: 736; Downloads: 62
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