The World Is Our Stage : The Global Rhetorical Presidency and the Cold War

**A fresh account of the US presidential rhetoric embodied in Cold War international travel.** Crowds swarm when US presidents travel abroad, though many never hear their voices. The presidential body, moving from one secured location to another, communicates as much or more to these audiences than the texts of their speeches. In __The World is Our Stage__, Allison M. Prasch considers how presidential appearances overseas broadcast American superiority during the Cold War. Drawing on extensive archival research, Prasch examines five foundational moments in the development of what she calls the “global rhetorical presidency:” Truman at Potsdam, Eisenhower’s “Goodwill Tours,” Kennedy in West Berlin, Nixon in the People’s Republic of China, and Reagan in Normandy. In each case, Prasch reveals how the president’s physical presence defined the boundaries of the “Free World” and elevated the United States as the central actor in Cold War geopolitics. "John F. Kennedy's 1963 visit to West Berlin, with his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, is seared into the national memory as a powerful image of a U.S. president on the world stage. When thinking about key presidential moments in international relations like Kennedy in Berlin, we often focus our attention on the speeches themselves. Professor Allison Prasch wants to treat us to a wider view-one that places these speeches in their physical context and allows us to grasp the intentional embodied nature of these carefully orchestrated international trips. In The World Is Our Stage, Prasch takes us along for the ride as Cold War U.S. presidents travel the world to assert power and influence. Drawing on extensive archival research, Prasch examines five representative moments that reveal how the "global rhetorical presidency" evolved during the Cold War: Harry S. Truman's 1945 participation in the Potsdam Conference, Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1959-60 "Good Will" tours, John F. Kennedy's 1963 visit to West Berlin, Richard Nixon's "Opening to China" in 1971-72, and Ronald Reagan's 1984 commemoration of D-Day in Normandy. Prasch uses these key events show how multiple presidential administrations and other government agencies designed these global tours as dynamic persuasive campaigns. As the body of the U.S. president traveled through and encircled the globe, it symbolically extended the spatial reach of U.S. ideology and elevated the nation's place in the Cold War world order"-- Provided by publisher "A fresh account of the US presidential rhetoric embodied in Cold War international travel. Crowds swarm when US presidents travel abroad, though many never hear their voices. The presidential body, moving from one secured location to another, communicates as much or more to these audiences than the texts of their speeches. In The World is Our Stage, Allison M. Prasch considers how presidential appearances overseas broadcast American superiority during the Cold War. Drawing on extensive archival research, Prasch examines five foundational moments in the development of what she calls the "global rhetorical presidency:" Truman at Potsdam, Eisenhower's "Goodwill Tours," Kennedy in West Berlin, Nixon in the People's Republic of China, and Reagan in Normandy. In each case, Prasch reveals how the president's physical presence defined the boundaries of the "Free World" and elevated the United States as the central actor in Cold War geopolitics"-- Provided by publisher Contents Illustrations Introduction 1 The Global Rhetorical Presidency 2 Truman at Potsdam 3 Eisenhower and the “Good Will” Tours 4 Kennedy in West Berlin 5 Nixon and the “Opening to China” 6 Reagan at Normandy Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index