Dwight D. Eisenhower - (Great American Orators) by Martin Jay Medhurst (Hardcover)

About the Book

This first book-length assessment of Ike's consummate skills as a communicator shows how, contrary to popular belief, he used language effectively as a weapon to achieve well-conceived strategic ends during the Cold War. Medhurst demonstrates how Eisenhower chose his audiences and times deliberately. This reference is an invaluable text and resource for students, scholars, and professionals in rhetorical studies, mass communications, public opinion, presidential studies, and Cold War history.

The critical analysis shows that, despite caricatures of Eisenhower as fuzzy, muddle-headed, and obscure in his public speeches, he pondered over just the right words and employed half-truths, was ambiguous and indirect in a tactical manner. He knew exactly what he was doing and why. Texts of speeches exemplify how he served as a strategic communicator. A selected chronology points to his most important speeches. The bibliography is the most comprehensive to date on Eisenhower as a public speaker. The study is based on extensive use of primary research materials from the Eisenhower Library.

Book Synopsis

This first book-length assessment of Ike's consummate skills as a communicator shows how, contrary to popular belief, he used language effectively as a weapon to achieve well-conceived strategic ends during the Cold War. Medhurst demonstrates how Eisenhower chose his audiences and times deliberately. This reference is an invaluable text and resource for students, scholars, and professionals in rhetorical studies, mass communications, public opinion, presidential studies, and Cold War history.

The critical analysis shows that, despite caricatures of Eisenhower as fuzzy, muddle-headed, and obscure in his public speeches, he pondered over just the right words and employed half-truths, was ambiguous and indirect in a tactical manner. He knew exactly what he was doing and why. Texts of speeches exemplify how he served as a strategic communicator. A selected chronology points to his most important speeches. The bibliography is the most comprehensive to date on Eisenhower as a public speaker. The study is based on extensive use of primary research materials from the Eisenhower Library.

Review Quotes

?A solid rhetorical analysis that also serves as a brief lesson in both American history and the politics of that era.?-The Annals of the American Academy

?The Fourth Chapter, "Defending the Free World" is one of the most densely argued, critically insightful pieces ever written about Ike. Medhurst is a very gifted critic. Almost every sentence is a zinger. The section on the use of surrogates is so brilliant that I read it to my political science classes, and when I had finished they longed to hear more. They asked me why persons in our field did not write as lucidly and as powerfully as Medhurst.?-Source unknown

"A solid rhetorical analysis that also serves as a brief lesson in both American history and the politics of that era."-The Annals of the American Academy

"The Fourth Chapter, "Defending the Free World" is one of the most densely argued, critically insightful pieces ever written about Ike. Medhurst is a very gifted critic. Almost every sentence is a zinger. The section on the use of surrogates is so brilliant that I read it to my political science classes, and when I had finished they longed to hear more. They asked me why persons in our field did not write as lucidly and as powerfully as Medhurst."-Source unknown

About the Author

MARTIN J. MEDHURST is Professor of Speech Communication, Texas A&M University, and the author or editor of four books, including Cold War Rhetoric: Strategy, Metaphor, and Ideology (Greenwood Press, 1990). His research on presidential rhetoric has also appeared in leading journals in the field of communication studies.