This article examines the perception of threat in the creation of a discourse by the administration of President Ronald Reagan in relation to the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. It emphasizes the importance of a parallel with Cuba and the verifiable nature of Nicaraguan armed forces and concludes that, in order to construct its discourse, the Reagan administration made use of legitimate concerns that had previously been dismissed as fallacious by critics. / Graduate / 0336 / nburtonv@uvic.ca

This article examines the perception of threat in the creation of a discourse by the administration of President Ronald Reagan in relation to the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. It emphasizes the importance of a parallel with Cuba and the verifiable nature of Nicaraguan armed forces and concludes that, in order to construct its discourse, the Reagan administration made use of legitimate concerns that had previously been dismissed as fallacious by critics. / Graduate / 0336 / nburtonv@uvic.ca

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Studien behandlar de motiv den amerikanske presidenten Ronald Reagan fann till att USA skulle intervenera på Grenada, samt hur denna motivbild skapades. Som teori användes John J Mearsheimers offensiva realism och metoden tog sin utgångspunkt i Ernesto Laclau och Chantal Mouffes diskursanalys. Materialet som undersöktes bestod av texter och uttalanden med Reagan som avsändare. I analysen visade sig både motiv tillhörande den realistiska och liberala diskursen. Den liberala diskursen var dock underställd den realistiska, vilket visade på en hegemoni för den senare.

I argue in this dissertation that U.S. rhetorics of national masculinity, while consistently present during the twentieth century, have changed shape in response to economic, social, and political crises. My research begins with the early twentieth-century Boy Scouts of America. It then moves to the late twentieth century, focusing on Ronald Reagan's inaugural speeches and the U.S. Army's campaign brochures, seeking to understand how U.S. national boundaries around masculinity have been drawn and redrawn according to political economies of the body. In these examples, the middle class struggles to define itself against realities of advancing capitalism that threaten the social capital of whiteness, manhood, and middle-class status.In chapter one, I present a literature review of masculinity, gender, and nationalism theories and an overview of my research methods.In chapter two, I present a rhetorical analysis of American masculinist nationalism at the turn of the 20th century, focusing on rhetoric that was used to develop boys and young men into masculine preservers of the nation, including training manuals from the Boy Scouts of America. I particularly concentrate on narratives of the formation and beginnings of the BSA. I connect the rhetoric of these narratives to the concurrent changes in Roosevelt's military goals. In chapter three, I examine how, beginning with President Ronald Reagan, the economy became rhetorically tied to ideals of freedom and democracy. I argue that the effect of this rhetorical shift has been that national projects that were formerly tied to national pride and service can now be executed through calls to improve the national economy or even one's individual economic status.In chapter four, I argue that this rhetorical shift has changed the rhetoric of Army recruiting. I analyze U.S. Army recruiting brochures and surveys to argue that masculinist nationalism in this context maintains elements from early-twentieth-century masculinity, but incorporates rhetoric of economic individualism that stems from Reagan's era.In chapter five, I draw from examples in the three analysis chapters of my dissertation to make observations about the nature of masculinist nationalism in the U.S., and suggest areas for further research stemming from my dissertation.

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Master of Science / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / F. Todd Goodson / This study analyzes the power of rhetorical forms from a historical perspective. Ronald Reagan's presidency (1981-1989) will serve as the historical time period used for analysis. By looking at President Ronald Reagan‘s ―War on Drugs, this study provides historical research on the legislative initiatives leading up to this war, as well as on the various aspects of Reagan‘s drug policies. In addition, this study also outlines concurrent educational policies respectively. This background information provides a foundation for examining the role of education within the -War on Drugs, as well as how rhetorical similarities between Reagan‘s drug and education policies are indicative of his administration‘s larger aims and beliefs.

This thesis examines the manner in which Ronald Reagan responded to the Tower Commission Report concerning his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair. It explores the following questions: 1) What were the factors leading to a rhetorical situation as defined by the media and which required Ronald Reagan to provide a public response of self-defense; 2) what strategies of apologia did Reagan employ; and 3) how did the media and the White House characterize the outcome of Reagan's speech? Data for analysis were drawn from nationally recognized newspapers that shaped public perception of the Iran-Contra Affair: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Christian Science Monitor. In addition, The Tower Commission Report and Ronald Reagan's March 4, 1987 speech were used as primary texts. It was found that the events of the Iran-Contra Affair qualified as a crisis, and exemplified an exigence needing a response. The thesis demonstrated that the Iran-contra Affair was an appropriate case for study as a rhetorical situation. Analysis demonstrates how Ronald Reagan made full use of the conventional apologetic strategies of denial, bolstering, differentiation, and transcendence to regain lost credibility; moreover, analysis provides further evidence of the utility of genre criticism.

Minorities have gained more civil rights with the cooperation of both major political parties in the United States, yet the actions of the Republican Party are often conflated with racism. This is partially the result of clashes in ideological visions, which explain the different political positions of partisans. However, during his 1980 run for the White House, a concerted effort was made to tie Ronald Reagan to racism, as he was accused of pandering to white Southerners. Therefore, this thesis also focuses on “Southern strategies” used by both the Republican and Democratic parties to exploit race, which have spilled into the new millennium.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2008. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Mar.9, 2009). Thesis advisor: Michael R. Fitzgerald. Document formatted into pages (xi, 226 p. : ill.). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-210).