Constitutive rhetoric theory posits that community identity is rhetorically created. There are various approaches to constitutive rhetoric, though most rhetoricians have chosen to focus on the works of Maurice Charland and Michael McGee, whose approaches focus on audience so much that often the rhetor has no agency. This project blends their ideas with those of James Boyd White to create works of criticism that highlight an increased amount of agency for the rhetor. As examples, I have chosen four case studies from the year 1954: the Brown v. Board decision, the Army-McCarthy hearing (specifically McCarthy's heated exchange with Joe Welch), the addition of "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, and the first article in the first dated issue of Playboy. Each chapter is designed to provide an example of what a constitutive analysis in the style of White would look like. The project begins with a description of the theories and analyses, including constitutive rhetoric, postmodernism, and textual analysis. The Brown v. Board analysis begins with a brief history of the case, moves to a rhetorical analysis, and then connects the analysis to ideas of constitutive rhetoric. The McCarthy sections examines the "Have you no sense of decency?" exchange between Welch and McCarthy. It begins with a brief explanation of McCarthy's reputation, and then utilizes an understanding of conspiracy rhetoric in the rhetorical analysis in order to explain McCarthy's constitutive efforts. The Pledge of Allegiance analysis provides a brief a summary of the Congressional arguments made to add the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, then provides a textual analysis of the Pledge (with the addition), emphasizing the power of those words, especially given the epideictic nature of the Pledge. The Playboy research focuses on the first 1954 article, which directly addresses the question of American identity. The article is contextualized with Hugh Hefner's self-proclaimed Philosophy of Playboy. Finally, all of these case studies are tied together again with further explanations of constitutive rhetoric, showing that White's understanding of constitutive rhetoric can be used to bolster Charland and McGee's in order to give agency to the rhetor.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Patriotic education began when the Woman’s Relief Corps was established. The earliest patriotic education was done on Memorial Day rather than on a daily basis in the schoolroom. The WRC’s plan for patriotic education went into full gear in 1893. The history of the Woman’s Relief Corps and the implementation of patriotic education is a fascinating one that shows how a conservative organization of women implemented a regimented daily routine that today shows more about the women and their beliefs than one might expect. As time passed after the Civil War, more and more Union veterans died leaving the legacy to keep the memory of the War alive to the WRC. Patriotic education provided a perfect avenue to keep that memory alive as well as to inculcate the students with patriotism and how to be good citizens. As patriotic education evolved and grew, there was a pattern of changing rhetoric among educators and the WRC. This is visible when one looks at the discussions amongst the members of the WRC during and immediately after a war. Generally, during a war, the women of the WRC would step back into a supportive role of American military and then immediately after a war would take advantage of the patriotic fervor to further expand patriotic education.