Title
Foreign Policy Rhetoric in the 1992 Presidential Campaign: Bill Clinton's Exceptionalist Jeremiad
Publication Date
2015
Document Type
Article
Abstract
This essay examines presidential candidate Bill Clinton's rhetoric regarding America's role in the world during the 1992 presidential campaign. Despite the fact that foreign policy was George H.W. Bush's strength during the campaign, candidate Clinton was able to develop a coherent vision for America's role in the world that he carried into his presidency. I argue he did so by fusing together the American exceptionalist missions of exemplar and intervention. In doing so, Clinton altered a tension embedded in debates over U.S. foreign policy rhetoric. To further differentiate his candidacy from President Bush, Clinton encased this discourse within a secular jeremiad that offered Clinton the opportunity to attack President Bush on the one hand, while articulating his own vision for American domestic and international affairs.
Original Citation
Edwards, J. (2015). Foreign Policy Rhetoric in the 1992 Presidential Campaign: Bill Clinton’s Exceptionalist Jeremiad. Speaker & Gavel 52(2), 32-53.
Virtual Commons Citation
Edwards, Jason (2015). Foreign Policy Rhetoric in the 1992 Presidential Campaign: Bill Clinton's Exceptionalist Jeremiad. In Communication Studies Faculty Publications. Paper 50.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/commstud_fac/50
Comments
Originally published in Speaker and Gavel.