The purpose of this thesis is to reveal the slanderous rhetoric of the Federalist and Republican parties during the American presidential election of 1800. Both parties relied on newspapers, pamphlets, sermons, and songs to influence public opinion; however, newspapers were the most effective means of swaying the voters. Although the Federalists, led by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, had almost twice as many partisan newspapers to disseminate their propaganda, the Republicans, under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson, had a much larger number of journals that were substantially more dogmatic in their denunciations. This advantage, coupled with internal Federalist crises, enabled the Republicans to be victorious at the polls. This study proves that the campaign of 1800 was one of the most libelous and rancorous in United States history.

Leadership has been studied as an essential component for success in business, government, and military environments. However, the optimal style of leadership in university settings remains unclear. Transformational leadership style has been proposed as efficient for universities, however some experts have argued that transformational leadership is actually counterproductive at academic institutions. Increasing public scrutiny of university leaders has also raised the question of presidential leadership style. One manifestation of this scrutiny is the U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) annual college ranking. To resolve the uncertainty regarding effective leadership style the present study was designed to address the following research questions: 1. Is there any relationship between a top tier ranking in the USNWR and a particular leadership style? 2. Is there agreement among top administrators at the ranked institutions regarding the style of leadership exhibited by their university president? The proposed study answers these questions through the analysis of data gathered utilizing the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The survey instrument was sent to three top administrators at the top 50 ranked national universities according to USNWR. A score was derived which provided a quantitative assessment of transformational, transactional or laissez-faire leadership styles. In addition, a satisfaction score was determined. The key results of the study show: 1) transformational leadership was found in 56% to 74% of the rated presidents; 2) transformational leaders were found to induce the greatest satisfaction; 3) transactional leadership style was exhibited 24% of the time, and laissez-faire leadership was found among 8% of the presidents; 4) laissez-faire leadership was noted significantly more frequently among universities ranked from 40 - 50 according to the USNWR; and 5) there was no statistical agreement among the administrators surveyed.In conclusion, the findings of this study indicate that transformational leadership is the most satisfactory style of leadership among these national universities. The rating of transformational university presidents as highly satisfactory demonstrates the success of presidents with these leadership skills.

From the television advertisements made by presidential candidates from 1952 to 1976, this study analyzed the 131 advertisements that contained women. The analysis used the following descriptors: Number of Women's Roles, Age, Occupation, Marital Status, Locale, Concerns, and Status Relative to the Candidate. The results indicate that women are most likely to be shown as physically present although not speaking, in the 18 to 30 age group, belonging to a non-business atmosphere yet outside the home, and of an unknown marital status, and will not be shown in the same frame as the candidate. Womens' images in these advertisements were most commonly associated with issues involving the cost of living, taxes, pro-Nixon, and social security.

Despite analysts' predictions and assertions prior to the 2016 presidential election, the Hispanic vote did not prove decisive. Donald Trump's victory elucidates a new electoral calculus, one that will be ruled simultaneously by changing demographics and the backlash against such change. While Hispanic voters largely supported Hillary Clinton, structural and individual impediments hinder their access to the voting booth and their turnout on election day. This thesis explores the reasons why the Hispanic electorate did not prove decisive in the 2016 presidential election. It further illuminates the changing Electoral College map, in which the Midwest and the Rustbelt are determined by an older white electorate and the South and Southwest are determined by an influx of minorities and immigrants, namely the Hispanic electorate. The 2016 presidential election illustrates the demographic changes and subsequent backlash that will persist over the next decade. A growing Hispanic population and electorate will eventually alter the political calculus of national and state elections, but turnout among white voters will continue to prove decisive in the near future. White backlash and transactional voting (e.g. economic, religious) clearly clinched Trump's success in crucial swing states, ultimately securing his Electoral College win. A review of polling prior to the 2016 election, as well as case studies of economic transactional and Hispanic Trump voters, demonstrates the breakdown across party and state lines that ensured Trump's Electoral College victory, despite a large and expanding Hispanic electorate. While it will continue to grow exponentially, it is unlikely that the Hispanic electorate will prove decisive as soon as the 2020 presidential election, but it will inevitably determine national and state elections within the next decade.

This thesis takes a conversation-analytic approach examining the pragmatic functions of the linguistic marker "first (off/of all)" in second-pair-part (i.e., responsive) position relative to questions. Using data from question-answer sequences in the 2015-2016 U.S. Presidential Republican primary debates, I propose six claims regarding the composition, position, and action of what is referred to as the practice of "First"-prefacing. Analysis reveals that "First"-prefacing projects the displacement of a response (conforming or non-conforming) to a question. In projecting the displacement of a response, "First"-prefacing does two things: (1) it projects that the unit(s) of talk to come immediately next will be something other than a response, and thus this "first" matter should not be heard as being designedly "responsive" to the question; and (2) it claims that a conditionally relevant response to the question is forthcoming after the "first" matter is resolved. Debaters largely used "First"-prefacing to temporarily "get out from under" a question's conditional relevancies in order to "reach back" beyond the question and perform actions more properly sequentially fitted to earlier portions of the debate (e.g., defend themselves, make additional comments, counter-criticize other debaters). The more general function of "First"-prefacing as a misplacement marker is discussed, and its existence in ordinary conversation is briefly demonstrated.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

No description available.

American politics from 1832 to 1848 underwent a profound transformation. Whereas in the early years of the republic politics had been based on deference and elitism, by the early 1830's a definite change in the political arena had occurred. With the coming of the "Age of Jackson, " the political rules and styles of the older era began to change. The politics of deference began to give way to the politics of "availability." Because this study is a discussion, examination, and analysis of Webster's and Clay's "appeal to reason, " the sources most heavily consulted were the published and microfilmed correspondence, speeches, and papers of these two statesmen. Other personal papers, correspondence, memoirs, and biographies of other central personalities of the middle period, both protagonists and antagonists, were used in order to place Webster and Clay in proper historical perspective. This dissertation is organized chronologically, and it traces and analyzes the evolution of the candidacies of Webster and Clay for the presidency from the early 1830's through the four presidential elections from 1836 to 1848. Each chapter includes an examination of Clay's and Webster's attempts to secure the Whig nomination and gain the presidency through forceful appeals to the voters' sense of logic and reason. Each chapter also includes a discussion and analysis of why these two men always failed.

The purpose of this research was to determine the aural and visual issues present in televised political campaign advertising of the 1972 Presidential election year. Content analysis was the method employed to determine these issues. The campaign commercials of George McGovern and Richard Nixon were the subject of the analysis. The issues coded were Social Welfare, Natural Resources, Labor, Management, Civil Rights, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Vietnam, Government, Public Order, Defense, Republicans, and Democrats. The results show that the campaigns used issues appearing in network news coverage, the percentage of time each campaign spent on the issues, and that the aural content was supported by the visual images in the commercials.

The ongoing disregard for the American vice presidency, and for those who would and do hold the office, in conjunction with the scarcity of academic research devoted specifically to the development of the institution, warrants the following study. Indeed, this study is relatively novel to the existent body of political science research which ventures to evaluate the vice presidency. Generally, research and publications on the vice presidency have tended to focus on variables such as ticket-balancing and home-state advantage; critiques of individual vice presidents; and more recently, specific policy spheres where modern vice presidents have been involved. In contrast, this project is devoted exclusively to isolating the institutional markers that have increased the broad utility of the position of vice president of the United States and, in the process, have augmented the development of the vice-presidential institution. These institutional markers include augmentation by precedent, statute, and constitutional amendment; increases in the resources made available to the institution; the addition of institutional identifiers; and the gradual accumulation of policy portfolios and responsibilities assigned to vice presidents. Underscoring each of the preceding institutional markers has been the vital role specific presidents have played in facilitating the development of the vice-presidential institution; indeed, the form and the substance of the vice presidency today is almost entirely the product of presidential initiative. In total, this study represents an interpretive synthesis of the historical record of the American vice presidency and how that record reflects the development of the institution. In the end, salient institutional markers have led to the development of a modern, utilitarian institution, one that is now fully integrated into the executive government. Of equal import, the standing of the vice presidency today, legitimizes the individual serving in the office, and furthers the influence of the vice president in the executive government. And, in telling the story of the development of the vice presidency, it is readily apparent that a combination of anecdotal and empirical evidence support the thesis of a changed institution, closely integrated with, and dependent upon, the presidency.