Work

"I am a Candidate for President": A Functional Analysis of Presidential Announcement Speeches, 1960-2004

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: This study investigates the nature of presidential announcement speeches, messages that introduce the current crop of contenders for the White House to voters and the news media. Announcement speeches are typically voters‘ initial exposure to these politicians as candidates for the White House. Seventy-five presidential announcement speeches from 1960 through 2004 were analyzed with the Functional Theory of Campaign Discourse. Acclaims were over three times as common as attacks; defenses were quite rare. Republicans and winners were more positive than Democrats or losers. These speeches were evenly split between policy and character. Democrats discussed policy more, and character less, than Republicans. Candidates emphasized issues owned by their political party more than candidates from the opposing party.

Source: Cornerstone (Minnesota State University, Mankato)

Authors: William L. Benoit, Jayne R. Goode, Sheri A. Whalen, P. M. Pier

Language: English

Topic: Cultural and political discourse analysis

Subfield: Linguistics and Language

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2274363375

FWCI: 1.645

Cites: 21

Cited by: 8

Related to: 10