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.
A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF RONALD REAGAN'S NOVEMBER 18, 1981, ADDRESS ON STRATEGIC ARMS REDUCTION (DRAMATISM, NUCLEAR FREEZE, DISARMAMENT)
Abstract
Ronald Reagan's addresses, news conferences, and statements on disarmament during his first term form the focus of this dissertation. The rhetoric of the Nuclear Freeze Campaign formed the background for the study of Reagan's response. A November 18, 1981, address before the National Press Club was selected as the representative anecdote for the disarmament rhetoric. Using Kenneth Burke's dramatistic method, the dissertation concludes that Reagan's effective choices in transformation, entitlement, and identification produced a disarmament drama that enabled many American listeners to cope with the arms race. The understandings created by this drama appealed to an audience that had been aroused by the freeze movement about the dangers of nuclear war. Reagan's rhetorical choices included transforming the conflict of the people versus the arms race into a conflict between the people and the Soviet threat, entitling a nuclear buildup "START" to make it appear that reduction goes further than freezing weapons, and identifying with America's desire not to repeat past mistakes of history by promoting a need for a strong Alliance. Reagan reinforced the drama of an arms buildup as a road to peace. These choices, the constraints of freeze member's access to the media, and inconsistencies among freeze appeals, contributed significantly to the current lack of support for a nuclear freeze. Thus, the dissertation concludes that Reagan better equipped his auditors to come to grips with the arms race than did the freeze advocates.
Subject Area
Communication
Recommended Citation
PRESTON, CHARLES THOMAS, "A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF RONALD REAGAN'S NOVEMBER 18, 1981, ADDRESS ON STRATEGIC ARMS REDUCTION (DRAMATISM, NUCLEAR FREEZE, DISARMAMENT)" (1986). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8624612.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8624612