Presidential anonymity: Rhetorical identity management and the mystification of political reality

Abstract

This essay explores the dimensions of presidential anonymity, a privileged and covert form of rhetorical identity management. Using not‐for‐attribution White House plants as a basis for analysis, we contend that anonymity mystifies the public's political reality by masking a chief executive's identity and rhetorical motives. As such, anonymity enables a president to circumvent the public forum, to disseminate self‐serving and untoward information, and to manipulate the press. We conclude that anonymity serves the president's interests at the expense of the citizenry's right‐to‐know and ability to render reasoned judgments. Six implications of presidential anonymity are discussed.