Join us to learn more about U.S. presidential rhetoric in history through today, including timely reference to campaign speeches. From “Ask not what your county can do for you” to “I alone can fix it,” what does language say about the political process – and the presidents themselves?
John Murphy studies the history of American Public Address and political rhetoric. He is the author of John F. Kennedy and the Liberal Persuasion, a critique of President Kennedy’s greatest speeches and the liberal tradition. He studies the evolution of political languages. He’s written on John and Robert Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Martin Luther King. Jr., George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. His scholarly work has appeared in journals such as Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Quarterly Journal of Speech, and American Literary History. His commentary on the presidency and presidential rhetoric regularly appears in popular media outlets such as The Conversation USA, Washington Post, New York Times, and USA Today. He is currently working on a book project concerning the civil rights rhetoric of James Baldwin, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
