The Rhetoric of the Hanging Chair

Abstract

The empty chair used by actor-director Clint Eastwood during his headline-grabbing speech at the Republican National Convention is a particularly compelling example of a widely circulated image that resonated for the balance of the 2012 presidential campaign. Eastwood had criticized and mocked the empty chair as if the Democratic president were sitting in it. Following the convention, at least two incidents were reported where an empty chair was hung from a tree by a rope, interpreted by many as racially offensive displays meant to symbolize the lynching of President Barack Obama. Analyzing publicly recognizable images is an important endeavor for rhetorical scholars because images have the capability of embodying public identity and contributing to the formation of public culture. This study investigates how the circulation of particular images, such as the empty chair, during a political campaign may develop verbally unspoken arguments and provide additional insight about American identity as it relates to issues of race.