1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910959845603321

Autore

Goldzwig Steven R

Titolo

Truman's whistle-stop campaign / / Steven R. Goldzwig

Pubbl/distr/stampa

College Station, : Texas A&M University Press, c2008

ISBN

1-60344-398-3

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (160 p.)

Collana

Library of presidential rhetoric

Disciplina

324.973/0918

Soggetti

Presidents - United States - Election - 1948

Presidential candidates - United States

Political oratory - United States - History - 20th century

Rhetoric - Political aspects - United States - History - 20th century

Political campaigns - United States - History - 20th century

Presidents - United States

United States Politics and government 1945-1953

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [141]-143) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Text of Harry S. Truman's Rear-Platform Remarks in Decatur, Illinois, October 12, 1948 -- Chapter 1 Setting the Political and Rhetorical Strategy, January-May 1948 -- Chapter 2 The Western Tour, June 1948 -- Chapter 3 The Democratic National Convention and the Special Session of Congress, July 1948 -- Chapter 4 The Fall Campaign Begins, September 1948 -- Chapter 5 The Fall Campaign Continues, October-November 1948 -- Chapter 6 Why Truman Won: The Rhetorical Roots of a Homespun Victory -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

Faced with the likely loss of the 1948 presidential elections, Harry S. Truman decided to do what he did best: talk straight. When Truman boarded the train to head west in June 1948, he and his campaign advisors decided to shift from prepared text to extemporaneous stump speeches. The "new Truman" emerged as a feisty, engaged speaker, brimming with ideas on policies and programs important to the common citizen. Steven R. Goldzwig engagingly chronicles the origins of Truman's "give 'em hell" image and the honing of his rhetorical delivery during his ostensibly nonpolitical train trip west, which came to



be known as his "whistle-stop tour." At the time, Truman was both applauded and derided by the public, but his speeches delivered at each stop helped win him the presidency. Goldzwig's detailed look at the background of the campaign, Truman's preparations and goals, the train trip itself, and the text and tone of the speeches helps us better understand how Truman carried the 1948 election and came to represent the plainspoken "man of the people" who returns from behind to win, against all odds.