The Evolution of Roosevelt's Rhetorical Legacy: Presidential Rhetoric about Rights in Domestic and Foreign Affairs, 1933-2011

• Published in: Presidential studies quarterly Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 562 - 591
• Main Author: Rhodes, Jesse H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2013; Wiley Periodicals, Inc; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Center for the Study of the Presidency
• Subjects: African Americans; Capitalism; Citizens; Content Analysis; Equal rights; Foreign affairs; Freedoms; Human Rights; Inaugural addresses; International Relations; Labor relations; New Deal; Politics; President of the United States; Presidential elections; Presidents; Progressivism; Progressivism (United States politics); Qualitative Methods; Quantitative analysis; Rhetoric; Roosevelt, Franklin D; Society; Speeches; Speeches, lectures and essays; Studies; U.S.A; United States of America; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0360-4918; 1741-5705
• DOI: 10.1111/psq.12046

Scholars view the domestic and foreign commitments of the New Deal and Great Society as embodying rights with quasi-constitutional status. But little research has examined whether presidents have encouraged citizens to perceive New Deal/Great Society commitments as deserving of extraordinary veneration. Based on a quantitative content analysis of hundreds major presidential addresses and a qualitative analysis of inaugural addresses over the 1933-2011, this article shows that presidents have largely declined to characterize major domestic commitments as rights but that they have repeatedly described the United States 1 mission in foreign affairs in terms of protecting human rights.