The Calendrical Rite of the Ascension to Power: A Generic Inquiry into 20th Century Presidential Inaugural Addresses.

Abstract

The following study is an exercise in rhetorical criticism. It makes an extended argument regarding the existence of an inaugural genre, a genre composed of a distinct rhetorical situation, and identifiable stylistic and substantive responses to this situation. In effect, this study isolates significant recurring similarities of rhetorical style and substance in Presidential inaugural addresses beginning in 1933, and argues that these similarities were responsive to a rhetorical situation which changed significantly in 1933. The thesis of this study is that in 1933, the purpose and nature of Presidential inaugural speaking changed. The traditional and accustomed inaugural emphasis on deliberation was replaced by an increased emphasis on ritualistic faith intensification. Beginning with Franklin Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address, a new rhetorical tradition was born, and a distinct rhetorical genre of inaugural speaking evolved. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1978
Accession Number
ADA062714

Entities

People

  • Leo Finkelstein Jr

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  • Air Force Institute of Technology

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  • Cold War
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  • Computational Linguistics
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
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