President Nixon’s Speeches and Toasts during His 1972 Trip to China: A Study in Diplomatic Rhetoric

Abstract

Although hailed by historians and political scientists as a pivotal moment in the reestablishment of U.S.-Sino relations, President Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to China has received little attention from rhetoricians. The toasts and speeches Nixon presented during his trip are important rhetorical artifacts as they illustrate the intricate relationship between diplomatic and epideictic rhetoric. Nixon adroitly employed epideictic diplomatic rhetoric during his 1972 trip to convey diplomatic aims and accomplish deliberative objectives. In so doing, he created a new, positive definition of U.S.-Sino relations, which rhetorically bridged the ideological differences that had separated the nations for more than two decades.

Normalizing Relations from the Cold War to the Present: Continuing War, Pursuing Peace, and Building Empire

“…78 Nixon argued that his initiatives had replaced "the mere absence of war" with "the basis of a structure for peace." 79 U.S. politicians and diplomats spoke in similar terms about normalization with Vietnam and Cuba. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a Vietnam War veteran, former prisoner of war, and a key leader in the U.S.-Vietnamese normalization process, equated "improving relations" with Hanoi to concluding "the final chapter of the war in Vietnam."…”

Hovets sofister: Diplomati, retorik och representationens problem

“…I en räcka artiklar publicerade i början av femtiotalet utvecklade kommunikationsforskaren Robert T. Oliver vad han ansåg vara en rad brister (men också möjligheter) i detta forskningsfält, ett arbete som också har kommit att utgöra grunden för mycket av den retoriskt inspirerade och orienterade forskning rörande diplomati och övertygande som vi ser i dag (se ex. Carcasson, 2000;Howell, 2008;Kelley, 1988;Lid Falkman, 2009;Yang, 2011). Vad Oliver här hävdade var att målet med en retorisk kritik av diplomatisk kommunikation var att "judge what they [politiker och diplomater] are doing and to help them to do it better" (1950, s. 25).…”