Defining National Security as Peace Through Strength: Ronald Reagan's Visionary Rhetoric of Renewal in the 1980 Presidential Campaign

Abstract

In the 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan made the case for national security based on “peace through strength.” Looking at four major foreign, policy speeches in Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign for the presidency, this analysis argues that Reagan's redefinition of national security represented a visionary rhetoric of renewal—a deep, substantive form of argument linking narrative, emotion, and policy proposals. Reagan's visionary rhetoric in the 1980 campaign articulated concerns over the Carter administration, employed strategic binaries to heighten the necessity of change, and grounded calls for policy change in the renewal of values. This case study demonstrates the potential of visionary rhetoric in political campaigns.