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Rhetorical elements in historical revisionism: A Burkeian analysis of the neoconservative interpretation of the American experience in Vietnam
Abstract
This dissertation provides a rhetorical examination of revisionism in the neoconservative response to the American experience in Vietnam as constituted by Norman Podhoretz's (1982) Why We Were in Vietnam and Guenter Lewy's (1978) America in Vietnam. This study describes, interprets, and evaluates the symbolic reality created in and by the neoconservative rhetoric, providing insight into the manner in which opposing sociopolitical groups engage the symbolic reconstruction of the past. The neoconservative interpretation rejects the prevailing perception of American involvement in Vietnam as a mistake. The neoconservative interpretation justifies American intervention and advances alternative perceptions of the nature, morality, and reasons for American failure in the Vietnam War. Rhetorical analysis reveals: (a) The conflict in historical interpretation between orthodox and neoconservative accounts stems from conflicting definitions of scene. The orthodox interpretation focusing on the specific experience of Vietnam, while the neoconservative account places the American experience in Vietnam within the broader context of the Cold War; (b) Three broad language strategies are employed by the neoconservative account to defend American intervention and explain American defeat, and (c) the neoconservative interpretation reestablishes the parameters of a new social order to direct American foreign policy. This study provides insight into how history is reconstructed through language, revealing the degree to which historical revisionism is a language-based phenomenon that focuses on meaning as action, and suggests a conceptual framework to characterize revisionism as a rhetorical process. The study also contributes to the understanding of how Burkeian concepts are used to examine symbolic action, and promotes an understanding of how language functions to affect social relationships.
Subject Area
Communication|History|Political science|American history
Recommended Citation
Flynn, Thomas Richard, "Rhetorical elements in historical revisionism: A Burkeian analysis of the neoconservative interpretation of the American experience in Vietnam" (1991). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9208106.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9208106