(Re)Enacting Frontier Justice: The Bush Administration's Tactical Narration of the Old West Fantasy after September 11

Abstract

The Bush administration's public discourse after September 11 weaves a new story embedded in the national myth of the Old West. Seen in its historical context of a frontier political mentality reaching back to the early 19th century, and in its broader communication context as the rhetorical narration of a defining cultural myth, the tactical narration of the frontier justice story gains its fullest gravity. Bush and Cheney's proliferation of this rhetorical vision is not merely a quantitative increase in frontier references from past presidencies. Instead, this essay argues that an appreciably different character of narration is underway, one that tactically deploys and directs frontier mythology as a fantasy theme at discrete audiences: to cope with a national crisis, reassure a partisan political base, and discipline international allies for a controversial war.