Rhetoric, failure, and the presidency: The case of Vietnam

Abstract

Scholars have largely dismissed the postwar Vietnam rhetoric of American presidents. Rhetorical analysis of this discourse, however, reveals recurrent failure topoi used by Nixon, Ford, and Carter to console and compensate the nation after Vietnam. This study explores the limitations of these topoi in postwar situations. It argues that even as they purge the nation of wartime failure and reassert foundational myths and ideology, these topoi restrict historical judgments about the wartime experience and perhaps even perpetuate climates that make future confrontations likely. This essay concludes by locating the constraints upon presidential discoursing about failure within the culture and within the institution of the Presidency itself.