Opening the President's Mailbag: The Nixon Administration's Rhetorical Use of Public Opinion Mail

Abstract

In this article, I extend the empirical discussion of the instrumental value of public opinion by exploring the uses of public opinion mail to advance the political goals of the Nixon White House, in particular in their rhetorical construction of public opinion. I draw on internal archival material from the Nixon White House demonstrating the Nixon administration's desire to use public opinion mail for rhetorical purposes and combine this archival analysis with a collected data set of public presidential statements referencing public opinion mail. I find that President Richard Nixon referred to public opinion mail to demonstrate the harmony of his position with the public interest, especially on salient issues, including the Vietnam War and the wage and price freeze, and to humanize his policy positions.

What Predicts Trends in the White House Mail?

“…For each administration between 1953 and 1984, the archival records show that the total mail was summarized weekly on the subject and disposition of the mail received by the White House Mail Room and the summaries were forwarded to each president, most of which were read and commented on by the presidents (Rottinghaus, 2006, 2008). For instance, during the Johnson White House, the weekly memos are addressed “Memorandum for the President” but were circulated to key members of the president’s senior staff.…”