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Roderick Hart may be among the few Americans who believe that what politicians say in a campaign actually matters. He also believes that campaigns work. Even as television coverage, political ads, and opinion polls turn elections into field days for marketing professionals, Hart argues convincingly that campaigns do play their role in sustaining democracy, mainly because they bring about a dialogue among candidates, the press, and the people. Here he takes a close look at the exchange of ideas through language used in campaign speeches, political advertising, public debates, print and broadcast news, and a wide variety of letters to the editor. In each case, the participants choose their words differently, and this, according to Hart, can be a frustrating challenge to anyone trying to make sense of the issues. Yet he finds that the process is good for Americans: campaigns inform us about issues, sensitize us to the concerns of others, and either encourage us to vote or at least heighten our sense of the political world. Hart comes to his conclusions by using DICTION, a computer program that has enabled him to unearth substantive data, such as the many subtle shifts found in political language, over the past fifty years. This approach yields a rich variety of insights, including empirically based explanations of impressions created by political candidates. For example, in 1996 Bill Clinton successfully connected with voters by using many human-interest words--\"you,\" \"us,\" \"people,\" \"family.\" Bob Dole, however, alienated the public and even undermined his own claims of optimism by using an abundance of denial words--\"can't,\" \"shouldn't,\" \"couldn't.\" Hart also tracks issue buzzwords such as \"Medicare\" to show how candidates and voters define and readjust their positions throughout the campaign dialogue. In the midst of today's increased media hype surrounding elections, Americans and the candidates they elect do seem to be listening to each other--as much as they did in years gone by. Hart's wide-ranging, objective investigation upends many of our stereotypes about political life and presents a new, more bracing, understanding of contemporary electoral behavior.

Since its founding in 1979, one of the U.S. Department of Education’s primary missions has been to promote civil debate about the condition of our schools and colleges. Our past secretaries of education — 12 of them in all — have recognized that they have important rhetorical responsibilities, not only to call attention to the urgent educational topics we face as a nation but also to model and lead an inclusive process of deliberation about those topics. However, Betsy DeVos — our 12th secretary of education — has chosen to reject those responsibilities. In this article, communications scholar Mark Hlavacik describes how previous secretaries have used their bully pulpit, what sets DeVos apart, and why it will be important for future secretaries to return to form

Abstract Purpose Many African Americans cheered the election of President Obama in 2008 with the hope he would cause an easing of the pain of economic and political barriers to collective black progress in America. This chapter assesses the role of President Obama in addressing these issues. Approach The Presidential Bully Pulpit is presented as a framework for addressing racial inequities. Properly used it can bring keen attention to issues a president deems important for consideration by the American public. Socio-historical texts and secondary data are used. Findings Data are presented to show how racial discrimination continues to affect African Americans during the age of Obama. These include housing discrimination, employment discrimination, and racial profiling. This chapter shows Mr. Obama has not used the office of the presidency as a bully pulpit for addressing these racial inequities. Rather he has tended to use the bully pulpit to chastise blacks, especially black males. Also discussed are some promising developments challenging racism that have emerged from his administration, primarily from the Department of Justice, and how President Obama could use the bully pulpit more productively. Originality This chapter presents a contradiction in the actions of President Obama. While he seldom uses the bully pulpit to push his own legislative agendas or to push toward solutions to relieve racial inequities in society, he does use the bully pulpit to criticize black males.

When it comes to thinking about American space policy and presidents, it’s hard not to turn directly to John F. Kennedy and his ambitious proposal to send astronauts to the Moon by the end of the 1960s. As we will note in this chapter, this model is quite often held up not just as an example but as a lesson of what is required to make space dreams a reality. However, rather than begin with Kennedy’s May 1961 speech to the Congress where missions to the Moon were first proposed or even his later Rice University speech where he explained

Pam Sterling's script focuses mainly on Roosevelt's public life rather than probing his inner makeup. This emphasis seems appropriate for a man of action like Roosevelt. Much of the story is told by his eldest daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, herself a memorable figure because of her volatile, headstrong personality. Fictional characters seldom appear in Historyonics scripts, but [Finley Peter Dunne]'s writings featuring Mr. [Martin T. Dooley] are a primary source of opinions about Roosevelt expressed by an influential contemporary. Christopher Hickey is delightful in the blunt Mr. Dooley's recurring appearances. Gary Glasgow is impressive as Mr. Dooley's friend Mr. Hennessy and as Roosevelt's friend Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin has scored again with \"The Bully Pulpit,\" a thorough and well-written study of two presidents, as well as the journalists who covered them and exposed scandals in government and industry.

Goodwin has taken on Johnson (in 1976's \"Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream\"), John F. Kennedy (in 1987's \"The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga\"), Franklin D. Roosevelt (in 1995's Pulitzer Prize-winning \"No Ordinary Time\") and Abraham Lincoln (in her 2005 best-seller \"Team of Rivals,\" which became the basis of Steven Spielberg's \"Lincoln\").

John F. Kennedy viewed himself as a strong, active president “in the Democratic tradition of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman.”¹ He wrote before becoming president, “When the Executive fails to lead . . . it leaves a vacuum that the Legislative branch is ill-equipped to fill.” In his criticism, he “charged the executive branch with having had a ‘failure of nerve.’ . . . The key words were challenges, vigorous, fight, and the need for a president ready to ‘exercise the fullest powers of his office.’”² Kennedy’s splendid inaugural address immediately demonstrated his talent for using

Goodwin hits the high notes in the life of an asthmatic boy who develops into a vigorous outdoorsman, military man, rancher, intellectual, and, of course, a beloved, masterful politician still regarded as one of the greatest in American history.

Journalists played a role in Roosevelt's life that has no analogue in American history, accompanying him to Cuba and creating the Rough Rider myth and mystique; fueling his progressive impulses; and performing the role of Greek chorus when he was president and, just as important, ex-president.