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The Anti-Intellectual Presidency
The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from George Washington to George W. Bush
Elvin T. Lim
196 pages
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8 black and white line illustrations
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235x156mm
978-0-19-534264-2
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Hardback
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12 June 2008
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- A fascinating analysis of the "dumbing down" of presidential rhetoric
Why has it been so long since an American president has effectively and consistently presented well-crafted, intellectually substantive arguments to the American public? Why have presidential utterances fallen from the rousing speeches of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, and FDR to a series of robotic repetitions of talking points and sixty-second soundbites, largely designed to obfuscate rather than illuminate?
In The Anti-Intellectual Presidency, Elvin Lim draws on interviews with more than 40 presidential speechwriters to investigate the relentless
qualitative decline, over the course of 200 years, in the USA's presidents' ability to communicate with the public. Lim argues that the ever-increasing pressure for presidents to manage public opinion and perception has created a "pathology of vacuous rhetoric and imagery" where gesture and appearance matter more than accomplishment and fact. Lim tracks the campaign to simplify presidential discourse through presidential and speechwriting decisions made from the Truman to the present administration, explaining how and why presidents have embraced anti-intellectualism and vague platitudes as a public relations strategy. Lim sees this anti-intellectual stance as a deliberate choice rather than a reflection of presidents' intellectual limitations. Only the smart, he suggests, know how to dumb
down. The result, he shows, is a dangerous debasement of the USA's political discourse and a quality of rhetoric which has been described, charitably, as "a linguistic struggle" and, perhaps more accurately, as "dogs barking idiotically through endless nights."
Sharply written and incisively argued, The Anti-Intellectual Presidency sheds new light on the murky depths of presidential oratory, illuminating both the causes and consequences of this substantive impoverishment.Readership: Political junkies, readers of magazines like Time, Newsweek, The Nation and The New Republic; students and scholars of the American presidency and political communication
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Elvin T. Lim, Assistant Professor of Government, Wesleyan University
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"Lim's presentation of the consequences of the manipulation of language in the political arena is clear and compelling, and will delight grammarians and political aficionados alike." - Publishers Weekly
"Recent American presidents have dumbed down democratic discourse, Elvin Lim shows in his disturbing new study of presidential leadership. The chief culprits are presidential speechwriters, who prize style over substance and subvert the reasoned articulation of policy. Timely, well written, and highly recommended." - Jeffrey K. Tulis, author of The Rhetorical Presidency
"That 'Presidents and speechwriters have killed oratory and gone anti-intellectual' will come as no surprise. But why? No scholar has thought more carefully and analyzed more rigorously this historic change in presidential communication with the public. This book will spawn important debates about the meaning and consequences of the 'dumbing down' of presidential rhetoric. It is a tour de force." - Elizabeth Sanders, Department of Government, Cornell University
"Elvin Lim documents a disturbing trend. Presidents are talking more, but their speech is getting less substantive and less informative. Simple declarations have come to substitute for reasoned arguments. Lim's findings ring true, all the more so for their careful empirical grounding and elegant presentation. I know of no book on presidential rhetoric that cuts more directly and effectively to the point." - Stephen Skowronek, Pelatiah Perit Professor of Political and Social Science, Yale University
"Elvin Lim argues convincingly that politics has been dumbed-down but that enlightened civic conversation is possible if politicians will only try. Lim also believes that the American people want to be stretched intellectually and emotionally. The dark trail he traces therefore ends in a sunburst of hope that I find heartening." - Roderick P. Hart, Dean Shivers/Cronkite Chair in Communication, College of Communication, University of Texas at Austin
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Preface
Acknowledgments
1: The Problem of Presidential Rhetoric
2: Rhetorical Simplification and the Anti-intellectual Presidency
3: Creating the Anti-intellectual Presidency
4: Substantive Impoverishment and the Anti-intellectual Presidency
5: Institutionalizing the Anti-intellectual Presidency
6: Defending and Indicting the Anti-intellectual Presidency
7: Reforming the Anti-intellectual Presidency
Appendix I: The General Inquirer (GI)
Appendix II: Definitions of GI Categories Used
Appendix III: Annual Messages, 1790-2006
Appendix IV: Inaugural Addresses, 1789-2005
Appendix V: Presidential Speechwriters Interviewed
Appendix VI: The Flesch Readability Score
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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