Rhetorical continuity and shifts in war messages: George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush on Iraq

Authors

  • Mart Rzepecka University of Rzeszów

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19195/1899-5101.10.2(19).5

Keywords:

war, rhetoric, Gulf War, Iraq War, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush

Abstract

This article focuses on rhetorical continuity and shifts in the use of the genre of Amer­ican war rhetoric. Drawing on Lloyd Bitzer’s understanding of the rhetorical situation, the article analyses the political circumstances in which George H. W. Bush in 1991 and George W. Bush in 2002 constructed and delivered their messages. It then examines and compares the addresses for particular typologies of war rhetoric as defined by Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson and by Edward J. Lordan. With the rhetorical elements identified, the article discusses the implications of the adherence to and departures from the genre’s criteria for presidential war discourse.

Author Biography

Mart Rzepecka, University of Rzeszów

Marta Rzepecka, Ph.D., is affiliated with the University of Rzeszów, Poland. Holder of stipends and grants from the Freie Universitat, the Kościuszko Foundation, and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. Her main research interest has been the American presidency, especially 20th century presidents’ foreign policy. Author of publications on rhetoric and the American presidency.

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Published

2017-12-27

How to Cite

Rzepecka, M. (2017). Rhetorical continuity and shifts in war messages: George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush on Iraq . Central European Journal of Communication, 10(2(19), 226-238. https://doi.org/10.19195/1899-5101.10.2(19).5

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Section

Scientific Papers