American eloquence : language and leadership in the twentieth century

What makes political speech powerful? How does eloquent rhetoric transcend ordinary language? Which stylistic choices allow effective orators to stir emotions and spur action? And in the age of Donald Trump, does political eloquence still matter? This book examines a wide swath of political discourse to shed new light on the meaning and significance of eloquence. Roderick P. Hart, a leading scholar of political communication, develops new ways of measuring persuasiveness and rhetorical power through the use of computer-based methods. He examines one hundred of the most important speeches of the twentieth century, given by presidents and politicians as well as leaders, activists, and cultural figures including Martin Luther King Jr., Lou Gehrig, Mario Savio, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Stokely Carmichael. Deploying the tools of the digital humanities as well as critical rhetorical analysis, Hart considers what distinguishes the linguistic properties of iconic oratory from those of more mundane texts. He argues that eloquence represents the confluence of cultural resonance, personal investment, and poetic imagination, providing empirical metrics for assessing each of these qualities. A quantitative and qualitative exploration of American political speech, this interdisciplinary book offers a powerful argument for why eloquence is essential for a functioning democracy. "This book examines a wide swath of political discourse-some old and some contemporary-looking for what makes political speech persuasive, eloquent, and concise. Focusing mainly on twentieth century oratory and using computer-based methods of analysis, the political scientist Roderick P. Hart argues that eloquence is the byproduct of cultural resonance, personal investment, and poetic imagination. As Catherine Nicholson has said, "to speak English eloquently is to speak it strangely." Taking this literally, to say that something is "strange" is to say that it is statistically anomalous, deviating in important ways from a cache of other texts. Therefore persuasive political speech stands apart from mundane conversation, stirring emotions and spurring action. This work in the digital humanities considers some 60,000 textual documents to which were applied a computer program called DICTION, a utility that has been used in over 700 published studies throughout the humanities and social sciences during the last forty years. Although based on objective data, 80 percent of the manuscript features the author's critical analysis of the most important speeches of the twentieth century. Each chapter features texts that fundamentally changed life in the United States, texts authored by speakers ranging from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Lou Gehrig, from Woodrow Wilson to Hillary Clinton, from Mario Savio to Mario Cuomo"-- Provided by publisher