LEADER 04249nam 2200661 a 450 001 9910966056803321 005 20251117090547.0 010 $a1-60344-487-4 035 $a(CKB)2550000000040765 035 $a(OCoLC)607802176 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10480949 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000542831 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11359574 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000542831 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10518675 035 $a(PQKB)10936204 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3038017 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse1290 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3038017 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10480949 035 $a(OCoLC)843151418 035 $a(BIP)37165215 035 $a(BIP)32991546 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000040765 100 $a20030423d2004 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aYou, the people $eAmerican national identity in presidential rhetoric /$fVanessa B. Beasley 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aCollege Station $cTexas A&M University Press$dc2004 215 $a1 online resource (215 p.) 225 1 $aPresidential rhetoric series ;$vno. 10 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 08$a1-60344-298-7 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [189]-198) and index. 330 $aAs we ask anew in these troubled times what it means to be an American, You, the People provides perspective by casting its eye over the answers given by past U.S. presidents in their addresses to the public. Who is an American, and who is not? Could any questions be more timely? And yet, as Vanessa Beasley demonstrates in this eloquent exploration of a century of presidential speeches, the questions are not new. Since the Founders first identified the nation as "we, the people," the faces and accents of U.S. citizens have changed dramatically due to immigration and other constitutive changes. Yet on various occasions U.S. presidents have had to speak as if there was one monolithic American people. Here Beasley traces rhetorical constructions of American national identity in presidents' inaugural addresses and state of the union messages from 1885 through 2000. She argues convincingly that while the demographics of the voting citizenry changed rapidly during this period, presidential definitions of American national identity did not. Chief executives have consistently employed a rhetoric of American nationalism that is simultaneously inclusive and exclusive; Beasley examines both the genius and the limitations of this language. This book invites readers to pay closer attention to some of the platitudinous and perhaps even predictable ways in which presidents, when speaking ritualistically, have encouraged the American people to think of their common bonds. A book for all those puzzling over the nature of citizenship and whether there are new limits in post-9/11 America, this retrospective of presidential definitions of national identity helps readers understand how political community has been possible in the United States and how it can endure in an increasingly multicultural era. Vanessa B. Beasley is an assistant professor in the Division of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs at Southern Methodist Univeristy, where she teaches and researches political communication. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. 410 0$aPresidential rhetoric series ;$vno. 10. 606 $aNationalism$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aRhetoric$xPolitical aspects$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aGroup identity$xPolitical aspects$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aPresidents$zUnited States$xLanguage 607 $aUnited States$xPolitics and government 615 0$aNationalism$xHistory. 615 0$aRhetoric$xPolitical aspects$xHistory. 615 0$aGroup identity$xPolitical aspects$xHistory. 615 0$aPresidents$xLanguage. 676 $a320.54/0973 700 $aBeasley$b Vanessa B.$f1966-$01871655 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910966056803321 996 $aYou, the people$94480556 997 $aUNINA