Martin J. Medhurst

Martin J. Medhurst is Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric and Communication at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is the author or editor of ten books, is a frequent contributor to journals in ...

Eisenhower's War of Words
Rhetoric and Leadership

Martin J. Medhurst

Winner of the National Communication Association, Public Address Division, 1995 Marie Hochmuth Nichols Award for Outstanding Book

This volume paints a revisionist portrait of Dwight Eisenhower as a strategic communicator who was highly involved in the series of crises that characterized his administrations. As a consummate cold warrior, Eisenhower understood that words, images, perceptions, and the shaping of attitudes were central to the ongoing battle with the Soviet Union. He used rhetoric--actions and messages intentionally designed to persuade--to achieve many of his goals. To Ike, rhetoric was the central weapon for waging--and winning--the cold war. Understood as a strategic art of selection, arrangement, nuance, timing, and audience adaptation, rhetoric became, for Eisenhower, the preferred means for conflict resolution.

Examining both foreign and domestic crises, Eisenhower’s War of Words reveals a chief executive who was always thinking, planning, and looking for the opportune moment to strike. Individual chapters are devoted to the crises concerning Vietnam, McCarthyism, the H-bomb, massive retaliation, Open Skies, the Suez, Sputnik, Little Rock, the U-2 Affair, and the military- industrial complex. Eisenhower’s rhetorical leadership saw America through a decade that was anything but tranquil. This book examines one of the primary means by which he accomplished that goal.

Rhetoric and Public Affairs Series