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Before the Rhetorical Presidency. Edited by Martin J. Medhurst. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2008; pp x + 358. $49.95 cloth.
Before the Rhetorical Presidency, a collection of essays from the 2002 Texas A&M Conference on Presidential Rhetoric, should be on the shelf of any presidential, public address, or rhetorical scholar. Interrogating Jeffrey Tulis's concept of the rhetorical president principally through historically situated rhetorical criticism of presidential rhetoric from the nineteenth century, this latest edition of the Presidential Rhetoric Series is a well-wrought bookend to the nine volumes that began with Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency. The book cogently defends its thesis that "there was a rhetorical presidency-perhaps several different rhetorical presidencies-long before Roosevelt and Wilson" (3) with essays that not only explore presidential rhetoric of the nineteenth century but also provide varied and nuanced examples of readings from a range of presidential discourse that has been relatively ignored by historians, political scientists, and rhetorical critics (3).
Before the Rhetorical Presidency falls into two general categories of essays: conceptual discussions on the accuracy of Tulis's arguments about the rhetorical presidency and contextually responsive analyses of rhetoric from 11 presidents in the nineteenth century. The conceptual discussions showcase a lively exchange between Mel Laracey, whose 2002 The People and the Presidency directly challenged Tulis's work, and Tulis, who gives little ground to Larceny's assault. Writing in a mode that has produced some of his most lasting work, Stephen Lucas judiciously parses and moderates the claims of Laracey and Tulis, leavening the discussion with insight from his work on George Washington. Medhurst's introduction...