PCR Bibliography

The following is a bibliography of literature about presidential campaign rhetoric. It particularly includes rhetorical/critical/historical analyses of campaign discourse and generally excludes social scientific analyses of campaign communication.

General:

  • W. Lance Bennett, “The Ritualistic and Pragmatic Bases of Political Campaign Discourse,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 63 (1977): 219-238.
  • William L. Benoit, “Acclaiming, Attacking, and Defending in Presidential Nominating Acceptance Addresses, 1960–1996,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 85 (1999): 247-267, DOI: 10.1080/00335639909384260
  • Steven H. Chaffee, “Presidential Debates—Are They Helpful to Voters?,” Communication Monographs 45 (1978): 330-346
  • Paul E. Corcoran, “Presidential Concession Speeches: The Rhetoric of Defeat,” Political Communication 11 (1994): 109-131.
  • Richard Craig, “Expectations and Elections: How Television Defines Campaign News,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 17 (2000): 28-44, DOI: 10.1080/15295030009388374
  • Thomas B. Farrell, “Political Conventions as Legitimation Ritual,” Communication Monographs 45 (1978): 293-305.
  • Walter R. Fisher, “Rhetorical Fiction and the Presidency,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 66 (1980): 119-126.
  • Greg Goodale, “The Presidential Sound: From Orotund to Instructional Speech, 1892–1912,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 96 (2010): 164-184, DOI: 10.1080/00335631003796651
  • Bruce E. Gronbeck, “The Functions of Presidential Campaigning,” Communication Monographs 45 (1978): 268-280.
  • Michael Gurevitch & Anandam P. Kavoori, “Television Spectacles as Politics,” Communication Monographs 59 (1992): 415-420, DOI: 10.1080/03637759209376284
  • J. Michael Hogan, “George Gallup and the Rhetoric of Scientific Democracy,” Communication Monographs 64 (1997): 161-179, DOI: 10.1080/03637759709376412
  • R. Lance Holbert , William Benoit , Glenn Hansen & Wei-Chun Wen, “The Role of Communication in the Formation of an Issue-Based Citizenry,” Communication Monographs 69 (2002): 296-310, DOI: 10.1080/03637750216549
  • V.O. Key, Jr., “A Theory of Critical Elections,” Journal of Politics 17 (1955): 3-18.
  • Allen J. Lichtman, “Critical Election Theory and the Reality of American Political Elections,” American Historical Review 81 (1976): 317-351.
  • Carolyn Marvin & Peter Simonson, “Voting Alone: The Decline of Bodily Mass Communication and Public Sensationalism in Presidential Elections,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 1 (2004): 127-150, DOI: 10.1080/14791420410001685359
  • Michael Calvin McGee, “‘Not Men, But Measures’: The Origins and Import of an Ideological Principle,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 64 (1978): 141-154.
  • Martin J. Medhurst, “Presidential Rhetoric on the Campaign Trail: Then and Now,” Paper presented to the NCA Faculty Development Institute, 2005.
  • Toby Miller, “Character,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 5 (2008): 303-306, DOI: 10.1080/14791420802239669
  • John M. Murphy, “Knowing the President: The Dialogic Evolution of the Campaign History,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 84 (1998): 23-40, DOI: 10.1080/00335639809384202
  • Trevor Parry-Giles, “Resisting a ‘Treacherous Piety’: Issues, Images, and Public Policy Deliberation in Presidential Campaigns,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 13 (2010): 37-64.
  • Lee Sigelman, “There You Go Again: The Media and the Debasement of American Politics,” Communication Monographs 59 (1992): 407-410, DOI: 10.1080/03637759209376282
  • Mary E. Stuckey, “The Politics of Realignment,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 5 (2008): 321-324, DOI: 10.1080/14791420802239701
  • David L. Swanson, “The New Politics Meets the Old Rhetoric: New Directions in Campaign Communication Research,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 58 (1972), 31-40.
  • David L. Vancil & Sue D. Pendell, “Winning Presidential Debates: An Analysis of Criteria Influencing Audience Response,” Western Journal of Speech Communication 48 (1984): 62-74.
  • David Zarefsky, “Spectator Politics and the Revival of Public Argument,” Communication Monographs 59 (1992): 411-414, DOI: 10.1080/03637759209376283

1800-1860

  • Jeanette Anderson, “Man of the Hour or Man of the Ages?: The Honorable Stephen A. Douglas,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 25 (1939): 75-93.
  • Roger A. Fisher, “The Republican Presidential Campaigns of 1856 and 1860: Analysis through Artifacts,” Civil War History 27 (1981): 123-137.
  • Robert Gray Gunderson, “Webster in Linsey-Woolsey,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 37 (1951): 23-31.
  • Robert Gray Gunderson, “Presidential Canvass, Log-Cabin Style,” Today’s Speech 5 (1957): 9-10.
  • Michael C. Leff & Gerald P. Mohrmann, “Lincoln at Cooper Union: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Text,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 60 (1974): 346-358.
  • Anne Marie Serio, “Political Cartoons in the 1848 Election Campaign,” Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, no. 14, 1972.
  • Garry Wills, “Do the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Really Matter?” Argumentation & Advocacy 46 (2010): 150-158.
  • Ronald J. Zboray & Mary Saracino Zboray, “Whig Women, Politics, and Culture in the Campaign 0f 1840: Three Perspectives from Massachusetts,” Journal of the Early Republic 17 (1997): 277-315.

1864-1900

  • Kenneth D. Ackerman, Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield (Falls Church, VA: Viral History Press, 2011).
  • William D. Harpine, “Bryan’s ‘A Cross of Gold’: The Rhetoric of Polarization at the 1896 Democratic Convention,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 87 (2001): 291-304.
  • William D. Harpine, “‘We Want Yer, McKinley’: Epideictic Rhetoric in Songs from the 1896 Presidential Campaign,” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 34 (2004): 73-88.
  • William D. Harpine, “African American Rhetoric of Greeting During McKinley’s 1896 Front Porch Campaign,” Howard Journal of Communications 21 (2010): 40-55.
  • Donald Hayworth, “An Analysis of  Speeches in Presidential Campaigns from 1884 to 1920,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 16 (1930): 35-42, DOI: 10.1080/00335633009360850

1904-1948

  • Louise M. Benjamin, “Broadcast Campaign Precedents from the 1924 Presidential Election,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 31 (1987): 449-460.
  • Laura Crowell, “Franklin Roosevelt’s Audience Persuasion in the 1936 Campaign,” Speech Monographs 17 (1950): 48-64.
  • Douglass K. Daniel, “Ohio Newspapers and the ‘Whispering Campaign’ of the 1920 Presidential Election,” Journalism History 27 (2001-2002): 156-164.
  • Robert J. Drake, “The Porch and the Stump: Campaign Strategies in the 1920 Presidential Election,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 55 (1969): 256-267.
  • Elbert W. Harrington,”Lessons from the Political Conventions,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 19 (1933): 25-28, DOI: 10.1080/00335633309379921
  • Donald Hayworth, “An Analysis of  Speeches in Presidential Campaigns from 1884 to 1920,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 16 (1930): 35-42, DOI: 10.1080/00335633009360850
  • Michael J. Hostetler, “Gov. Al Smith Confronts the Catholic Question: The Rhetorical Legacy of the 1928 Campaign,” Communication Quarterly 46 (1998): 12-24.
  • Amos Kiewe, “The Body as Proof: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Preparations for the 1932 Presidential Campaign,” Argumentation & Advocacy 36 (1999): 88-100.
  • Robert Alexander Kraig, “The 1912 Election and the Rhetorical Foundations of the Liberal State,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 3 (2000): 363-395.
  • Jennings Randolph, “The 1948 Presidential Campaign Speakers Harry S. Truman,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 34 (1948): 300-302, DOI: 10.1080/00335634809381403
  • Jennings Randolph, “The 1948 Presidential Campaign: Truman‐A Winning Speaker,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 34 (1948): 421-424, DOI: 10.1080/00335634809381426
  • Harrison B. Summers, “Radio in the 1948 Campaign,”Quarterly Journal of Speech 34 (1948): 432-438, DOI: 10.1080/00335634809381428

1952-1976

  • James A. Anderson & Robert K. Avery, “An Analysis of Changes in Voter Perception of Candidates’ Positions,” Communication Monographs 45 (1978): 354-361.
  • Samuel L. Becker & Sidney Kraus, “The Study of Campaign ’76: An Overview,” Communication Monographs 45 (1978): 265-267.
  • William L. Benoit & Allison Harthcock, “Functions of the Great Debates: Acclaims, Attacks, and Defenses in the 1960 Presidential Debates,” Communication Monographs 66 (1999): 341-357, DOI: 10.1080/03637759909376484
  • Edwin Black, “Electing Time,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 59 (1973): 125-129.
  • Paul H. Boase, et al., “Presidential Campaign 1960: A Symposium Part I,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 46 (1960): 239-252, DOI: 10.1080/00335636009382418
  • Ernest G. Bormann, Jolene Koester & Janet Bennett, “Political Cartoons and Salient Rhetorical Fantasies: An Empirical Analysis of the ’76 Presidential Campaign,” Communication Monographs 45 (1978): 317-329.
  • Bernard L. Brock, “1968 Democratic Campaign: A Political Upheaval,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 55 (1969): 26-35, DOI: 10.1080/00335636909382925
  • John F. Cragan & Donald C. Shields, “Foreign Policy Communication Dramas: How Mediated Rhetoric Played in Peoria in Campaign ’76,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 63 (1977): 274-289.
  • James N. Druckman, “The Power of Television Images: The First Kennedy-Nixon Debate Revisited,” Journal of Politics 65 (2003): 559-571.
  • Walter R. Fisher, “Reaffirmation and Subversion of the American Dream,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 59 (1973): 160-167.
  • John C. Hammerback, “Barry Goldwater’s Rhetoric of Rugged Individualism,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 58 (1972): 175-183.
  • H. F. Harding , Robert Lasch , Barnet Baskerville , Douglas Ehninger & Ernest J. Wrage, “Rhetoric and the Campaign of 1956,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 43 (1957): 29-54, DOI: 10.1080/00335635709382210
  • Austin J. Freeley, “The Presidential Debates and the Speech Profession,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 47 (1961): 60-64, DOI: 10.1080/00335636109382458
  • Sidney Kraus, “Presidential Debates in 1964,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 50 (1964): 19-23, DOI: 10.1080/00335636409382641
  • James H. McBath & Walter R. Fisher, “Persuasion in Presidential Campaign Communication,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 55 (1969): 17-25, DOI: 10.1080/00335636909382924
  • N. Edd Miller , Bernard C. Kissel & H. F. Harding, “Presidential Campaign 1960: A Symposium Part II,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 46 (1960): 355-364, DOI: 10.1080/00335636009382434
  • John M. Murphy, “Civic Republicanism in the Modern Age: Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 Presidential Campaign,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 80 (1994): 313-328, DOI: 10.1080/00335639409384075
  • Robert O. Norvold, “Rhetoric as Ritual: Hubert H. Humphrey’s Acceptance Address at the 1968 Democratic National Convention,” Today’s Speech 18 (1970): 34-38.
  • “Presidential Campaign 1960: A Symposium, Part I,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 46 (1960): 239-252.
  • “Presidential Campaign 1960: A Symposium, Part II,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 46 (1960): 355-364.
  • David L. Rarick , Mary B. Duncan , David G. Lee & Laurinda W. Porter, “The Carter Persona: An Empirical Analysis of the Rhetorical Visions of Campaign ‘76,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 63 (1977): 258-273.
  • Herbert W. Simons , James W. Chesebro & C. Jack Orr, “A Movement Perspective on the 1972 Presidential Election,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 59 (1973): 168-179.
  • Martha Solomon, “Jimmy Carter and Playboy: A Sociolinguistic Perspective on Style,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 64 (1978): 173-182.
  • David L. Swanson, “Political Information, Influence, and Judgment in the 1972 Presidential Campaign,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 59 (1973): 130-142.
  • David L. Swanson, “And That’s the Way It Was? Television Covers the 1976 Presidential Campaign,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 63 (1977): 239-248.
  • Linda L. Swanson & David L. Swanson, “The Agenda‐Setting Function of the First Ford‐Carter Debate,” Communication Monographs 45 (1978): 347-353.
  • Robert K. Tiemens, “Television’s Portrayal of the 1976 Presidential Debates: An Analysis of Visual Content,” Communication Monographs 45 (1978): 362-370.
  • Judith S. Trent, “Presidential Surfacing: The Ritualistic and Crucial First Act,” Communication Monographs 45 (1978): 281-292.
  • Joseph W. Wenzel, “The Moderate Republicans: Campaign for the Nomination, Rockefeller, Lodge, Scranton,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 50 (1964): 385-390, DOI: 10.1080/00335636409382682
  • Russel Windes Jr., “Adlai E. Stevenson’s Speech Staff in the 1956 Campaign,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 46 (1960): 32-43, DOI: 10.1080/00335636009382389

1980-2016

  • Angela D. Abel & Michael Barthel, “Appropriation of Mainstream News: How Saturday Night Live Changed the Political Discussion,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 30 (2013): 1-16, DOI: 10.1080/15295036.2012.701011
  • W. Lance Bennett, “Assessing Presidential Character: Degradation Rituals in Political Campaigns,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 67 (1981): 310-321.
  • W. Lance Bennett, “News as Reality TV: Election Coverage and the Democratization of Truth,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 22 (2005): 171-177, DOI: 10.1080/07393180500093802
  • William L. Benoit , Mitchell S. McKinney & R. Lance Holbert, “Beyond Learning and Persona: Extending the Scope of Presidential Debate Effects,” Communication Monographs 68 (2001): 259-273, DOI: 10.1080/03637750128060
  • William L. Benoit , Denise M. Bostdorff , Diana B. Carlin , Kevin Coe , R. Lance Holbert , John M. Murphy & Katherine Miller, “Decision 2012: Presidential Election Analysis from the CM Café,” Communication Monographs 80 (2013): 243-254, DOI: 10.1080/03637751.2013.783959
  • Goodwin F. Berquist & James L. Golden, “Media Rhetoric, Criticism and the Public Perception of the 1980 Presidential Debates,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 67 (1981): 125-137.
  • Steven E. Clayman, “Caveat Orator: Audience Disaffiliation in the 1988 Presidential Debates,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 78 (1992): 33-60, DOI: 10.1080/00335639209383980
  • Donovan S. Conley, “Virtuoso,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 5 (2008): 307-311, DOI: 10.1080/14791420802239677
  • L. Patrick Devlin, “An Analysis of Kennedy’s Communication in the 1980 Campaign,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 68 (1982): 397-417.
  • Marya L. Doerfel & Pamela S. Marsh, “Candidate-Issue Positioning in the Context of Presidential Debates,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 31 (2003): 212-237, DOI: 10.1080/00909880305380
  • Thomas L. Dunn, “Barack Obama and the Souls of White Folk,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 5 (2008): 317-320, DOI: 10.1080/14791420802239693
  • Anna Cornelia Fahey, “French and Feminine: Hegemonic Masculinity and the Emasculation of John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential Race,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 24 (2007): 132-150, DOI: 10.1080/07393180701262743
  • Bruce E. Gronbeck, “Negative Narratives in 1988 Presidential Campaign Ads,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 78 (1992): 333-346, DOI: 10.1080/00335639209384000
  • Kenneth L. Hacker , Walter R. Zakahi , Maury J. Giles & Shaun McQuitty, “Components of Candidate Images: Statistical Analysis of the Issue‐Persona Dichotomy in the Presidential Campaign of 1996,” Communication Monographs 67 (2000): 227-238, DOI: 10.1080/03637750009376508
  • Douglas Kellner, “The Media and Election 2004,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 22 (2005): 178-186, DOI: 10.1080/07393180500093794
  • Martha Stout Kessler, “The Role of Surrogate Speakers in the 1980 Presidential Campaign,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 67 (1981): 146-156.
  • Roseann M. Mandziuk, “Dressing Down Hillary,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 5 (2008): 312-316, DOI: 10.1080/14791420802239685
  • Mark P. Moore, “From a Government of the People, to a People of the Government: Irony as Rhetorical Strategy in Presidential Campaigns,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 82 (1996): 22-37, DOI: 10.1080/00335639609384138
  • John M. Murphy, “Barack Obama, the Exodus Tradition, and the Joshua Generation,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 97 (2011): 387-410, DOI: 10.1080/00335630.2011.608706
  • Stephen O’Leary & Michael McFarland, “The Political Use of Mythic Discourse: Prophetic Interpretation in Pat Robertson’s Presidential Campaign,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 75 (1989): 433-452, DOI: 10.1080/00335638909383889
  • Shawn J. Parry‐Giles & Trevor Parry‐Giles, “Gendered Politics and Presidential Image Construction: A Reassessment of the ‘Feminine Style’,” Communication Monographs 63 (1996): 337-353, DOI: 10.1080/03637759609376398
  • J. Clarke Rountree III, “The President as God, the Recession as Evil: Actus, Status, and the President’s Rhetorical Bind in the 1992 Election,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 81 (1995): 325-352, DOI: 10.1080/00335639509384119
  • Michael J. Steudeman & Trevor Parry-Giles, “Redeeming the Maverick McCain: Game Change as Hyperreal Campaign History,” Communication Quarterly 64 (2016): 553-572. DOI: 10.1080/01463373.2016.1176938
  • Robert E. Terrill, “Unity and Duality in Barack Obama’s ‘A More Perfect Union’,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 95 (2009): 363-386, DOI: 10.1080/00335630903296192
  • Liesbet van Zoonen , Floris Muller , Donya Alinejad , Martijn Dekker , Linda Duits , Pauline van Romondt Vis & Wendy Wittenberg, “Dr. Phil Meets the Candidates: How Family Life and Personal Experience Produce Political Discussions,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 24 (2007): 322-338, DOI: 10.1080/07393180701560849
  • Mary Douglas Vavrus, “The Politics of NASCAR Dads: Branded Media Paternity,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 24 (2007): 245-261, DOI: 10.1080/07393180701520942