The rhetoric of American foreign policy

Legitimating liberal credentials for the presidency: John F. Kennedy andThe strategy of peace

“…195-196) The Strategy of Peace merged American ideals with Kennedy's vision of the American character to offer a public persona consonant with the liberal Democratic thought at the time. The Eisenhower administration's doctrinal, rigidly ideological rhetoric was now disdained in favor of a "realism" based on an enlightened pragmatism and presumed flexibility (Wander, 1984). However, as has been pointed out, Kennedy's desire to achieve the flexibility necessary to meet the Soviet challenge on all fronts, combined with his action-oriented leadership style prefigured a heavy-handed American exercise of global power.…”

“Peace, Yes, but World Freedom as Well”: Principle, Pragmatism, and the End of the Cold War

“…While it is not rare to see dramatic dualism in foreign policy and war rhetoric (Cherwitz, 1978;Ivie, 1980Ivie, , 1984Wander, 1984), or for individual policies of a presidency to be contradictory, it is much less common to see a grand strategy founded on two priorities that are in such tension. How does one avoid a nuclear war without recreating détente, an equally immoral outcome in Reagan's eyes?…”

Invoking the glorious war: Framing the Persian Gulf conflict through directive language

“…This second contrast-the law vs. the jungle, civilized vs. brute nations-mimics the contrast of action vs. appeasement amplified in the World War II analogy. These contrasts, of course, offer no middle ground (Wander, 1984;Zagacki, 1992).…”