All the Presidents' Words: The Bully Pulpit and the Creation of the Virtual Presidency (review)

Abstract

Book Reviews 287 their antagonism as a public debate of the most powerful kind. This section of the book is the most likely to appeal to rhetorical scholars. For instance, Shesol provides a fine account of the clear public break between the two men in 1967, an analysis infused with a rhetorical sensibility. In November of that year, Robert Kennedy appeared on Face the Nation and argued for the first time that Johnson had departed from John Kennedy's course. In a "literal sense," Shesol notes, that was simply not true. But how could Johnson "debate the 'Kennedy course' in Vietnam with a fleshand -blood Kennedy"? (388-89). He could not do so: "Bobby had lunged for Johnson's weak spot, his claim to the Kennedy legacy" (388). LBJ could not win that fight in the eyes of the nation. Robert Kennedy's literal embodiment of his argumentative claim rendered Johnson's textual exegesis of JFK's discourse superfluous. Shesol possesses a sensitivity toward rhetorical concerns rare among contemporary political writers. Taken together, these two books reveal not so much an original interpretation as a new sensibility regarding Robert Kennedy and his times. The seemingly inexhaustible stock of primary materials that keep turning up, combined with an increasing regard for the complexity and difficulty of political action, make for a clear appreciation of the entanglements that circumscribed the senator's freedom of action. He was forever carving out a place for himself amidst the demands and egos of his presidents. Perhaps that is why he finally decided that he needed to become president himself. John M. Murphy University of Georgia All the Presidents' Words: The Bully Pulpit and the Creation of the Virtual Presidency. By Carol Gelderman. New York: Walker and Company, 1997; pp. xv + 221. $23.00. Carol Gelderman, Distinguished Professor of English at the University of New Orleans, could have called her new book Speaking in the Shadow of FDR. All the Presidents' Words promises, and delivers, a systematic and intriguing investigation of the relationships among public speaking, legislative policymaking, speechwriting, and image-brokering in the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt and each of his twentieth-century successors. This persuasive, entertaining and well written account will be of great interest and value to readers who study rhetoric and politics in general, and the contemporary American presidency in particular. Gelderman begins with a premise that warms a rhetorician's heart: words matter , especially presidential words, and immersion in the process of selecting the right words is intrinsically related to creating wise policy. She holds that "speeches are the core of the modern presidency" (9). Furthermore, "no one can lead without first establishing direction. And there is no better way to determine direction than to be forced to marshal information into understandable and focused accounts, which is 288 Rhetoric & Public Affairs what writing does" (ix). Persuasive ability, she argues, has become intricately related to presidential leadership, and chief executives are at their most presidential when they assume the role of national teacher, prodding the citizenry to focus on shared values, goals, and ideals. Gelderman provides a fascinating account of the rhetorical evolution of the twentieth century presidency, opening with a prologue on the "bully pulpit" of Theodore Roosevelt and the activist presidency of Woodrow Wilson. She shows that both men, pioneers in methods of leading by persuasion, were instrumental in laying the groundwork for the contemporary presidency. But as effective and exciting as their early public persuasion may have been, Gelderman notes, in the ensuing decades the presidential prerogative of "going to the public" has gotten out of hand. Not all of the arguments that inform Gelderman's work will be news to the readers of this journal. For example, she claims that more recent presidents have been speaking more and saying less, with the result that persuasive guidance has been replaced by political pulsetaking, rendering the presidency less dignified and governance less effective than in days of yore. But the story behind this fall from grace is a rich one, replete with representative anecdotes from each presidency, and Gelderman is a talented storyteller. She amasses evidence from a wide variety of disciplines , using primary and secondary sources from the presidential...