Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Oratory of George W. Bush

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Republican Orators from Eisenhower to Trump

Part of the book series: Rhetoric, Politics and Society ((RPS))

  • 501 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter argues that the presidency of George W. Bush poses an interesting question for scholars of oratory. How did a President with such a poor reputation for rhetoric and oratory come to be understood as a good communicator?

Bush’s presidency poses fundamental questions around our understanding of oratory and its power. Starting with David Crockett’s explanation of how Bush found himself bound by the constraints of the rhetorical presidency, as understood by Tulis’s and Lim’s works on the simplification of presidential speech, the chapter will highlight the apparent ‘flaws’ of Bush’s style. It will then consider what strengths in his approach to persuasion have been unappreciated.

The aim is to provide a chapter that does not focus purely on Bush’s foreign policy rhetoric, which has dominated the study of his speeches so far.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Abramowitz, A.I. 2010. The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization and the American Dream. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abramowitz, A.I., and S. Webster. 2016. The Rise of Negative Partisanship and the Nationalization of U.S. Elections in the 21st Century. Electoral Studies 41: 12–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, F. 2003. Big Government Conservatism. Wall Street Journal, August 15.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. Rebel-in-Chief: Inside the Bold and Controversial Presidency of George W. Bush. New York: Three Rivers Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bass, H., Jr. 2013. Presidential Appearances. In Guide to the Presidency and the Executive Branch, ed. M. Nelson. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Binder, S.A. 1999. The Dynamics of Legislative Gridlock, 1947–96. American Political Science Review 93 (3): 519–533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bond, J.R., and R. Fleisher, eds. 2001. Polarized Politics: Congress and the President in a Partisan Era. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bostdorff, D.M. 2003. George W. Bush’s Post-September 11 Rhetoric of Covenant Renewal: Upholding the Faith of the Greatest Generation. The Quarterly Journal of Speech 89 (4): 293–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush, G.W. 2000. Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia’, 3 August. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25954.

  • ———. 2001. Inaugural Address, 20 January. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25853.

  • ———. 2002a. Remarks at East Literature Magnet School in Nashville, 17 September. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=62997.

  • ———. 2002b. Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union, 29 January. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29644.

  • ———. 2003. Remarks on the Anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, 8 January. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=63226.

  • ———. 2004a. Remarks Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Republican National Convention in New York City, 2 September. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=72727.

  • ———. 2004b. Eulogy at the National Funeral Service for President Ronald Reagan, 11 June. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=72655.

  • ———. 2004c. Remarks to the Republican Governors Association, 23 February. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=72552.

  • ———. 2005a. Remarks at J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Virginia, 12 January. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=73740.

  • ———. 2005b. Remarks on Implementing the Medicare Modernization Act, 16 June. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=62564.

  • ———. 2005c. Remarks in a Discussion on Strengthening Social Security in Greece, New York, 24 May. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=64547.

  • ———. 2005d. Commencement Address at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 21 May. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=62873.

  • ———. 2005e. Remarks to the White House Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Leadership Conference, 1 March. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=62867.

  • ———. 2005f. Address to the Nation on Iraq and the War on Terror, 18 December. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=65076.

  • ———. 2008. Remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference, 8 February. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=76777.

  • ———. 2009. Farewell Address to the Nation, 15 January. Available from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=85423.

  • ———. 2010. Decision Points. New York: Crown Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butt, D.G., A. Lukin, and C.M.I.M. Matthiessen. 2004. Grammar – The First Covert Operation of War. Discourse and Society 15 (2–3): 267–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, K.K., and K.H. Jamieson. 2008. Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, G.C., and H.B. Mehan. 2008. Why We Must Attack Iraq: Bush’s Reasoning Practices and Argumentation System. Discourse and Society 19 (4): 453–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clifford, S., and B. Gaskins. 2016. ‘Trust Me, I Believe in God’: Candidate Religiosity Signals Trustworthiness. American Politics Research 44 (6): 1066–1097.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, M., D. Karol, H. Noel, and J. Zaller. 2008. The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Crockett, D.A. 2003. George W. Bush and the Unrhetorical Rhetorical Presidency. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 6 (3): 465–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dallek, R. 2002. Seeing Bush’s Brains Despite Mangled Words. New York Times, March 20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, T. 2005. Heard But Not Seen: A Wordsmith for the President. Taft Bulletin Summer: 22–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, B., B. Keefer, and B. Nyhan. 2004. All The President’s Spin: George W. Bush, the Media, and the Truth. New York: Touchstone.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frum, D. 2003. The Right Man: An Inside Account of the Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerson, M.J. 2007. Heroic Conservatism: Why Republicans Need To Embrace America’s Ideals (And Why They Deserve to Fail if They Don’t). New York: HarperOne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gitelson, A.R., and K. Fullam. 2009. The “Lasting Republican Majority?”. In Assessing the Bush Presidency, ed. A. Wroe and J. Herbert. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, J. 2006. Letter From Washington: The Believer, George W. Bush’s Loyal Speechwriter. The New Yorker, February 13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenstein, F.I. 2000. The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from FDR to Clinton. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, J. 2011. The Struggles of an “Orthodox Innovator”: George W. Bush, the Conservative Movement and Domestic Policy. In Crisis of Conservatism? ed. J.D. Aberbach and G. Peele. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, R. 2005. Writing the War on Terrorism: Language, Politics and Counter-Terrorism. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, G.C. 2008. A Divider Not a Uniter: George W. Bush and the American People. London: Pearson Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kernell, S. 1997. Going Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership. Washington, DC: CQ Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krugman, P. 2001. Fuzzy Math: The Essential Guide to the Bush Tax Plan. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazar, A., and M. Lazar. 2004. The Discourse of the New World Order: “Out-Casting” the Double Face of Threat. Discourse and Society 15 (2–3): 223–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leudar, I., V. Narsland, and J. Nekvapil. 2004. On Membership Categorization: “Us”, “Them” and “Doing Violence” in Political Discourse’. Discourse and Society 15 (2–3): 243–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lim, E.T. 2008. The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from George Washington to George W. Bush. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lizza, R. 2001a. White House Watch: Write Hand. The New Republic, May 21.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001b. The White House Doesn’t Need the Press. New York Times Magazine, December 9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maltese, J.A. 2009. Communication Strategies in the Bush White House. In Assessing the George W. Bush Presidency, ed. A. Wroe and J. Herbert. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann, T.E., and N.J. Ornstein. 2012. It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarty, N., K. Poole, and H. Rosenthal. 2006. Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClellan, S. 2008. What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception. New York: Public Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pew Research Center. 2014. Political Polarization in the American Public: How Increasing Ideological Uniformity and Partisan Antipathy Affect Politics, Compromise and Everyday Life, 12 June. Available from http://www.people-press.org/files/2014/06/6-12-2014-Political-Polarization-Release.

  • Rhodes, J.H. 2014. Party Polarization and the Ascendance of Bipartisan Posturing as a Dominant Strategy in Presidential Rhetoric. Presidential Studies Quarterly 44 (1): 120–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rove, K. 2010. Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight. New York: Threshold Editions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanger, D.E. 2002. Reporter’s Notebook: Skipping Borders, Tripping Diction. The New York Times, May 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scully, M. 2007. Present at the Creation. The Atlantic, September.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E. 2008. Dan Bartlett: On Life at the White House. Texas Monthly, January. Available from http://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/dan-bartlett/.

  • Stuckey, M.S. 1991. The President as Interpreter-in-Chief. Chatham: Chatham House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Theriault, S. 2008. Party Polarization in Congress. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tulis, J. 1987. The Rhetorical Presidency. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisberg, J. 2009. Bushism of the Day. Slate, Available from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/bushisms.html.

  • Wilson, J. 2015. Talking with the President: The Pragmatics of Presidential Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Keele University, Keele, UK

    Jon Herbert

Authors
  1. Jon Herbert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Andrew S. Crines

  2. University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom

    Sophia Hatzisavvidou

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Herbert, J. (2018). The Oratory of George W. Bush. In: Crines, A., Hatzisavvidou, S. (eds) Republican Orators from Eisenhower to Trump. Rhetoric, Politics and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68545-8_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation