Vicente Ximenes, LBJ's Great Society, and Mexican American Civil Rights Rhetoric

Beginning as a grassroots organizer in the 1950s, Vicente Ximenes was at the forefront of the movement for Mexican American civil rights through three presidential administrations, joining Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society and later emerging as one of the highest-ranking appointees in Johnson's administration. Ximenes succeeded largely because he could adapt his rhetoric for different audiences in his speeches and writings. Michelle Hall Kells elucidates Ximenes's achievements through a rhetorical history of his career as an activist. Kells draws on Ximenes's extensive archive of speeches, reports, articles, and oral interviews to present the activist's rhetorical history. After a discussion of Ximenes's early life, the author focuses on his career as an activist, examining Ximenes's leadership in several key civil rights events, including the historic 1967 White House Cabinet Committee Hearings on Mexican American Affairs. Also highlighted is his role in advancing Mexican Americans and Latinos from social marginalization to greater representation in national politics. This book shows us a remarkable man who dedicated the majority of his life to public service, using rhetoric to mobilize activists for change to secure civil rights advances for his fellow Mexican Americans. Introduction: The Cultural Rhetorical Ecology Of The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement -- Chente: Interrogating Histories, Negotiating Rhetorics -- New Mexico And The Political Imagination Of The American Gi Forum -- The Public Rhetoric Of Vicente Ximenes: Citizen Scholars And Mexican American Civil Rights Activism -- Latinidad: The Question Of Democracy And The Americas -- Constructing The Great Society: The Topoi Of The 1967 El Paso Hearings -- Public Memory And The Reconstruction Of History: The 1972 Civil Rights Symposium -- Conclusion: Vicente Ximenes' Engaging Public Rhetoric, Cultural Ecologies, And Civic Literacies In The Twenty-first Century. Michelle Hall Kells ; Foreword By Juan C. Guerra. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Beginning as a grassroots organizer in the 1950s, Vicente Ximenes was at the forefront of the movement for Mexican American civil rights through three presidential administrations, joining Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society and later emerging as one of the highest-ranking appointees in Johnson's administration. One of the most influential government representatives of Mexican American issues in recent history, Ximenes succeeded largely because he could adapt his rhetoric for different audiences in his speeches and writings. This book explores his career as an activist One of the most influential government representatives of Mexican American issues in recent history, Vicente Ximenes succeeded largely because he could adapt his rhetoric for different audiences in his speeches and writings. Michelle Hall Kells elucidates Ximenes's achievement through a rhetorical history of his career as an activist.