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Abstract
I argue through analysis of the genre of concession speeches that third party presidential candidates have rhetorical norms of their own that address their unique challenges as political outsiders. I contend that their concessions are a variant of the concession genre warranted by the recurring situational barriers and overall purposes for minor party presidential campaigns. In developing this argument, I describe the function and form of traditional concessions, offer an alternative theory based on the analysis of over 30 such statements by various third party nominees from 1948 to 2008, and then provide three case studies demonstrating the genre.
Acknowledgments
An earlier version of this article was presented at the Central States Communication Association's 2012 conference in Cleveland, where it won a top paper award from the Political Communication Interest Group. The author wishes to thank Dr. Robert C. Rowland for reviewing drafts of this essay, and the Office of Graduate Studies at the University of Kansas for funding the project.
Notes
For a video of the encounter, see Ralph Nader, “Interview with Shepard Smith” (video), November 4, 2008, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IshiClQCM.
Votenader.org, “Hold Your Heads Up High,” November 5, 2008, http://www.votenader.org/blog/2008/11/05/-hold-your-heads-up-high/.
Christopher Shay, “Night of the Elephant; On the Libertarian Planet,” Washington Post, November 6, 1980, F17.
Jack Boettner, “Hope in Wake of Schmitz Defeat,” Los Angeles Times, November 8, 1972, OC_A7.
Christine L. Harold, “The Green Virus: Purity and Contamination in Ralph Nader's 2000 Presidential Campaign,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 4 (2001): 581–603; Michael J. Lee, “The Populist Chameleon: The People's Party, Huey Long, George Wallace, and the Populist Argumentative Frame,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 92 (2006): 355–378; Lloyd Rohler, “Conservative Appeals to the People: George Wallace's Populist Rhetoric,” Southern Communication Journal 64 (1999): 316–322; Herbert W. Simons, “Judging a Policy Proposal by the Company it Keeps: The Gore-Perot NAFTA Debate,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 82 (1996): 274–287; Mari Boor Tonn and Valeria A. Endress, “Looking Under the Hood and Tinkering with Voter Cynicism: Ross Perot and ‘Perspective by Incongruity,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 4 (2001): 281–308.
J. David Gillespie, Politics at the Periphery: Third Parties in Two-Party America (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1993), 25–36; Steven J. Rosenstone, Roy L. Behr, and Edward H. Lazarus, Third Parties in America: Citizen Response to Major Party Failure, 2nd ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 15–47.
John D. Hicks, “The Third Party Tradition in American Politics,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review 20 (1933): 26; Ronald B. Rapoport and Walter Stone, Three's a Crowd: The Dynamic of Third Parties, Ross Perot, & Republican Resurgence (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2008).
See Joseph Hazlett, The Libertarian Party and Other Minor Political Parties in the United States (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1992), 28–30; Rapoport and Stone, Three's a Crowd.
See Gillespie, Politics at the Periphery, 94–95.
See Paul E. Corcoran, “Presidential Concession Speeches: The Rhetoric of Defeat,” Political Communication 11 (1994): 109–131; Paul E. Corcoran, “Presidential Endings: Conceding Defeat,” in Presidential Campaign Discourse: Strategic Communication Problems, ed. Kathleen E. Kendall (New York, NY: State University of New York Press, 1995), 255–291; Paul E. Corcoran, “The Rhetoric of Triumph and Defeat: Australian Federal Elections, 1940–1993,” Australian Journal of Communication 25 (1998): 69–86; Kurt Ritter and Buddy Howell, “Ending the 2000 Presidential Election: Gore's Concession Speech and Bush's Victory Speech,” American Behavioral Scientist 44 (2001): 2314–2330; John R. Vile, Presidential Winners and Losers: Words of Victory and Concession (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2002); Reed L. Welch, “The Rhetoric of Victory and Defeat: Victory and Concession Addresses of Presidential Candidates,” Communication Annual 13 (1999): 85–101; Ruth Ann Weaver, “Acknowledgement of Victory and Defeat: The Reciprocal Ritual,” Central States Speech Journal 33 (1982): 480–489; Jennifer Willyard and Kurt Ritter, “Election 2004 Concession and Victory Speeches: The Influence of Genre, Context, and Speaker on Addresses by Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates,” American Behavioral Scientist 49 (2005): 488–509.
Weaver, “Acknowledgement of Victory and Defeat,” 482.
Corcoran, “Presidential Concession Speeches,” 113.
Weaver, “Acknowledgement of Victory and Defeat,” 482.
Corcoran, “Presidential Concession Speeches,” 114.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ritter and Howell, “Ending the 2000 Presidential Election,” 2317.
The following analysis is based on the work of Corcoran, “Presidential Concession Speeches,” 114–116; Corcoran, “Presidential Endings,” 263–265; Ritter and Howell, “Ending the 2000 Presidential Election,” 2316–2317; Vile, Presidential Winners and Losers, 8–9; Weaver, “Acknowledgement of Victory and Defeat,” 483–485; Welch, “The Rhetoric of Victory and Defeat,” 88.
Corcoran, “Presidential Concession Speeches,” 115.
Ritter and Howell, “Ending the 2000 Presidential Election,” 2317.
Corcoran, “Presidential Concession Speeches,” 115.
Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, “Form and Genre in Rhetorical Criticism: An Introduction,” Form and Genre: Shaping Rhetorical Action, eds. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson (Falls Church, VA: Southern Communication Association, 1977), 11–12.
Robert C. Rowland, “On Generic Categorization,” Communication Theory 1 (1991): 128–144.
Edwin Black, Rhetorical Criticism: A Study in Method (New York: Macmillan, 1965), 133–134.
Rowland, “On Generic Categorization,” 133–134.
Ibid, 134.
Weaver, “Acknowledgement of Victory and Defeat,” 483.
Welch, “The Rhetoric of Victory and Defeat,” 89–90.
Weaver, “Acknowledgement of Victory and Defeat,” 485.
Vile, Presidential Winners and Losers, 10.
Ritter and Howell, “Ending the 2000 Presidential Election,” 2326.
Corcoran, “Presidential Concession Speeches,” 127.
Vile, Presidential Winners and Losers, 9.
Welch, “The Rhetoric of Victory and Defeat,” 96.
John B. Anderson, “Concession Speech on Election Night, Nov. 4, 1980,” in Presidential Winners and Losers: Words of Victory and Concession, ed. John Vile (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2002), 287–288.
H. Ross Perot, “Concession Speech, Nov. 5, 1996,” in Presidential Winners and Losers: Words of Victory and Concession, ed. John Vile (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2002), 306–307.
Henry Wallace, “Refusal to Send Congratulations to Truman, Nov. 3 or 5, 1948,” in Presidential Winners and Losers: Words of Victory and Concession, ed. John Vile (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2002), 236.
Welch, “The Rhetoric of Victory and Defeat,” 95.
George C. Wallace, “Claiming Credit for Nixon's Win, Nov. 6, 1968,” in Presidential Winners and Losers: Words of Victory and Concession, ed. John Vile (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2002), 236.
William Kling, “Wallace Sees Third Party Bid as Success,” Chicago Tribune, November 7, 1968, 16.
United Press International, Washington News, November 5, 1980, http://www.lexis-nexis.com.
Perot, “Concession Speech, Nov. 5, 1996,” 306–307.
Jules Witcover, “McCarthy Finds Solace in his Election Impact,” Washington Post, November 6, 1976, A5; Eugene McCarthy, “Press Conference at the National Press Club,” November 5, 1976, Eugene McCarthy Papers, University of Minnesota.
Ralph Nader, “Speech on Election Night, Nov. 7, 2000,” in Presidential Winners and Losers: Words of Victory and Concession, ed. John Vile (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2002), 326–328.
Vincent Hallinan, “Statement of Vincent Hallinan and Charlotta A. Bass,” November 5, 1952, Records of the Progressive Party (MsC 160), University of Iowa.
New York Times, “Andrews Promises to Continue Party,” November 7, 1956, 13.
Hallinan, “Statement of Vincent Hallinan and Charlotta A. Bass.”
Vincent Hallinan, “Statement Released Evening of November 4, San Francisco, Carried by UPI in Interview Form Over NBC,” Records of the Progressive Party (MsC 160), University of Iowa.
Perot, “Concession Speech, Nov. 5, 1996,” 306–307.
For more on polarization, see Richard D. Raum and James S. Measell, “Wallace and His Ways: A Study of the Rhetorical Genre of Polarization,” Central States Speech Journal 25 (1974): 28–35.
Henry A. Wallace, “Wire to Truman Calls for Action, Nov. 3, 1948,” in Presidential Winners and Losers: Words of Victory and Concession, ed. John Vile (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2002): 236.
Hallinan, “Statement Released Evening of November 4, San Francisco.”
Ralph Nader, “Interview with Wolf Blitzer,” CNN Election Special, November 2, 2004, http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0411/02/se.10.html.
Daniel Chu and Jane Whitmore, “McCarthy on His Own,” Newsweek, November 1, 1976, 24.
US News & World Report, “An Expert Looks Ahead: What Will Sway Voters When Election Day Comes,” October 25, 1976, 28.
All of the quotations in this section come from this press conference. See McCarthy, “Press Conference at the National Press Club.”
For example, see Witcover, “McCarthy Finds Solace,” A5; Los Angeles Times, “Democrats Will Face Test Now, McCarthy Says,” November 5, 1976, 2.
Although Nader and others insist that he was not a “spoiler,” many political scientists have concluded that his support in Florida diminished Gore's chance of winning. See John C. Berg, “Spoiler or Builder? The Effect of Ralph Nader's 2000 Campaign on the U.S. Greens,” in The State of the Parties: The Changing Role of Contemporary American Parties, eds. John C. Green & Rick Farmer (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 323–336; Barry C. Burden, “Ralph Nader's Campaign Strategy in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election,” American Politics Research 33 (2005), 672–699.
Bob Kappstatter, “Nader Remains Unrepentant,” New York Daily News, November 8, 2000, www.nydailynews.com.
For example, see Eun-Kyung Kim and Jonathan Salant, “Nader Lacks Needed 5%; Buchanan No Factor,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 8, 2000, A18; Salt Lake Tribune, “Nader the Spoiler,” November 8, 2000, A13; Toledo Blade, “Nader Rejects Criticism for Halting Gore,” November 9, 2000, 9.
For the rest of this section regarding Nader's concession, see Ralph Nader, “Speech on Election Night, Nov. 7, 2000,” 326–328.
Ibid., 326.
Ibid., 328.
Ibid., 326.
Ibid., 327.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid., 326.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid., 327.
Ibid.
Ibid., 326.
Ibid.
Ibid., 326–327.
Ibid., 327.
For the remainder of this section, I will be referencing Browne's concession as delivered on the night of November 7, 2000 from the state of Georgia. See Harry Browne, “Post-Election Speech” (video), November 7, 2000, C-SPAN Video Library, http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/160356-1.
Strom Thurmond, “Statement on Result of General Election, November 2, 1948,” November 3, 1948, States' Rights Papers, The Presidential Campaign Addresses of 1948, Strom Thurmond Institute, Clemson University.
Anderson, “Concession Speech on Election Night, Nov. 4, 1980,” 287.