Abstract
This essay theorizes agency’s relationship to rhetoric around five different kinds of agency: material, discursive, inventional, audience, and textual. I apply this theory to Lenny Skutnik’s rescue of Priscilla Tirado from a plane crash in 1982, primarily as told in President Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union address. More than a simple gimmick, archival records and public documents reveal how this landmark moment in presidential rhetoric was a complex rhetorical episode entangling politics, power, and agency. Ultimately, I offer new insight into the operations of agency and explore how the rhetorical study of agency might foster it.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
