In a Perilous Hour: The Public Address of John F. Kennedy

by George N. Dionisopoilos, Steven R. Goldzwig

Overview

This first book-length critical analysis of Kennedy's public address defines how he aroused Americans to rise to the opportunities and challenges that he defined for them. This rigorously researched study offers an in-depth analysis of the development of President Kennedy as a public speaker and a balanced view of his civil rights, foreign policy, presidential, and other types of speeches. Eight speech texts accompany the analysis. This reference and teaching tool also offers a selected chronology of major speeches along with a bibliography of important primary and secondary sources. Designed for students, teachers, and professionals in the fields of rhetoric, political communication, presidential studies, and American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313277702
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/30/1995
Series:	Great American Orators , #22
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)
Lexile:	1450L (what's this?)

About the Author

STEVEN R. GOLDZWIG, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Marquette University, has written at length about rhetorical theory and criticism and about communication and the presidency.

GEORGE N. DIONISOPOULOS, Associate Professor in the School of Communication at San Diego State University, has published numerous articles in scholarly jourbanals about political communication.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword by Bernard K. Duffy and Halford R. Ryan
Foreword by Halford R. Ryan
Preface
Acknowledgments
Critical Analysis
John F. Kennedy: A Rhetorical Introduction
A New Beginning
Kennedy and Civil Rights
President Kennedy's Foreign Policy Discourse: A Rhetoric of Romantic Pragmatism
Conclusion
Collected Speeches
Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, September 12, 1960
Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961
Address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 20, 1961
Address to the Nation on the Berlin Crisis, July 25, 1961
Address to the Nation on the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 22, 1962
Address to the Nation on Civil Rights, June 11, 1963
Commencement Address at American University, June 10, 1963
Address to the Nation on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, July 26, 1963
Chronology of Major Presidential Speeches
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

The first section presents analysis of three areas of Kennedy's public vision and rhetoric: the "religious issue," civil rights, and foreign policy. The second part presents a selection of his speeches, from his famous 1961 inaugural address to more obscure radio and TV reports. Includes a chronology of his major speeches and remarks. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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