Date of Award
5-10-2017
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Communication
First Advisor
Mary Stuckey
Second Advisor
Nathan Atkinson
Third Advisor
Carol Winkler
Fourth Advisor
Darrel Wanzer-Serrano
Abstract
This dissertation analyzes moments in which presidents interact with transnational audiences, identifying and explaining their rhetorical strategies for developing a global imaginary. Specifically, I first consider how George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev negotiate geo-political and spatial metaphors leading up to their joint press conference, symbolically ending the Cold War. Second, I discuss how Bill Clinton and George W. Bush universalize the trope of “democracy” in their speeches before the United Nations General Assembly. Third, I explain how Barack Obama figures transnational citizens and himself as a global leader in his transnational town hall meetings. Together, these case studies show the ways contemporary presidents call forth particular understandings of “the global” through speech. Politically, this study is significant because it broadens our understanding of the institution of the presidency from the framework of a national institution to that of a global one. Rhetorically, this study illuminates the relationship between presidential speech, transnational audiences, and the rhetorical imaginary of the global sphere.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/10064570
Recommended Citation
Carney, Zoe, "Transnational Presidential Rhetoric and the Global Imaginary: George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2017.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/10064570