Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS PERSPECTIVES TOWARD REVOLUTION IN EL SALVADOR: THE UNFOLDING OF U.S. OFFICIALS' RHETORICAL EXPERIENCES (UNITED STATES)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to critically examine the diversity in U.S. officials' interpretations of the turmoil in El Salvador. The study examined rhetoric in the Congressional Record from March 1980 through March 1982, ending with the merger of congressional concern to demand conditionality for Salvadoran aid. Specifically, the study identified and analyzed the dynamic nature of two rhetorical perspectives in the controversy. Given the complexity of the rhetorical situation, Dramatism became the perspective and method for illumination. As government officials struggled to interpret the Salvadoran turmoil, two perspectives built around two foreign policy themes evolved: the cold war and human rights. The complexity of the situation resulted in a rhetorical complexity in each perspective. The cold war perspective, which gained popularity with Reagan's Presidency, was strained by the situation. This resulted in the interweaving of three dramatic variations of the struggle between communism and democracy. First, El Salvador became the momentary battleground for the struggle between Duarte, the symbol of democracy, and communist guerrillas. The second drama broadened the scope of the battle to the Western Hemisphere where El Salvador symbolized the communist entrapment of the U.S. The third drama focused attention on the U.S., and El Salvador symbolized the undercutting of American society by communist propaganda. The human rights theme emerged as a conceptual framework within the Salvadoran controversy. Strained by the situation, two dramatic scenarios which captured the essence of bloody oppression emerged in the rhetoric. The first drama portrayed El Salvador as a human rights imperative, a battleground between the oppressors and the oppressed. The second drama shifted attention to the immorality of the U.S. role, and El Salvador came to symbolize U.S. intervention in Central America, the undercutting of the democratic Salvadoran process. The study revealed that a weakened human rights message garnered support for the congressional action amidst the weakened, yet potentially viable claims of communist aggression.
Subject Area
Communication
Recommended Citation
HANISKO, SANDRALEE MARY, "FOREIGN AFFAIRS PERSPECTIVES TOWARD REVOLUTION IN EL SALVADOR: THE UNFOLDING OF U.S. OFFICIALS' RHETORICAL EXPERIENCES (UNITED STATES)" (1984). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8509863.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8509863