Transcending Media Framing of Candidate Religiosity: The Religio-Rhetorical Discourse of John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58997/smc.v34i1.2Abstract
This essay explores the ways in which presidential candidates respond when the news media frame their religious beliefs as subversive to American democratic values. Using John F. Kennedy’s “Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association” and Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech as case studies for analysis, we argue that Kennedy and Obama employed what Kenneth Burke referred to as familial and dialectical substance to overcome their respective controversies. While Kennedy reaffirmed his national allegiance by associating religious freedom with American values, Obama created dialectical tension to frame the controversy surrounding his candidacy from an alternative perspective, which simultaneously provided Americans an opportunity to interrogate the importance of religious pluralism. Kennedy and Obama’s speeches provide a valuable framework for examining the rhetorical strategies that presidential candidates may use to transcend the “religious issue.”References
Bergman, J. (2009). Religion and the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. In G. Espinosa (Ed.), Religion and the American Presidency: George Washington to George W. Bush. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Boase, P. (1989). Moving the mercy seat into the white house. Journal of Communication & Religion, 12(2), 1-9.
Broder, D. (2008, March 23). The real value of Obama’s speech. WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032102554.html. Accessed 15 May 2018.
Burgess, P. G. (1985). The dialectic of substance: Rhetoric vs poetry. Communication Quarterly, 33(2), 105-112.
Burke, K. (1945). A Grammar of motives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Burke, K. (1969). A Rhetoric of motives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Burke, K. (2010). Linguistic approach to problems of education. In P. M. Smudde (Ed.), Humanist critique of education: Teaching and learning as symbolic action (pp. 3-41). Anderson, SC: Parlor Press.
Burns, J. M. (1960, November). The religious issue. Progressive, 21-22.
Cheney, K. (2016, September 16). No, Clinton didn’t start the birther Thing. This guy did.” Politico.com. Retrieved from http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/birther-movement-founder-trump-clinton-228304.
Coe, K., & Chenoweth, S. (2015). The evolution of christian America: Christianity in presidential discourse, 1981-2013. International Journal of Communication, 9, 753-773.
Crusius, T. W. (1986). A case for Kenneth Burke’s dialectic and rhetoric. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 19(1), 23-37.
Crusius, T. W. (1988). Orality in Kenneth Burke’s dialectic. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 21(2), 116- 130.
Duncan, H. D. (1962). Communication and social order. New York, NY: Bedminster.
Durham, W. B. (1980). Kenneth Burke’s concept of substance. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 66(4), 351-364.
Grinder, D., & Shaw, S. (2016). The Presidents and their faith: From George Washington to Barack Obama. Boise, ID: Elevate Publishing.
Hochmuth, M. (1957). Burkeian criticism. Western Speech, 21(2), 89-95.
Hollander, B. A. (2010). Persistence in the perception of Barack Obama as a muslim in the 2008 presidential campaign. Journal of Media and Religion, 9(2), 55-66.
Houck, D., & Nocasian, M. (2002). FDR’S first inaugural address: Text, context, and reception. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 5(4), 649-678.
Kennedy, J. F. (1960, September 12). Address to the greater Houston ministerial association. Rice Hotel, Houston, TX. Retrieved from https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html
Knebel, F. (1959, March 3). Democratic forecast: A catholic in 1960. Look.
Lakoff, G. (1995). Metaphor, morality, and politics, or, why conservatives have left liberals in the dust. Social Research, 62(2), 177-213.
Massa, M. S. (1997). A Catholic for President?: John F. Kennedy and the ‘secular’ theology of the Houston speech 1960. Journal of Church & State, 39(2), 307-328.
Medhurst, M. J.(2013). Rhetorical functions of the Bible in American presidential discourse, 1977-2013: A taxonomy. Journal of Communication and Religion, 37(2), 1-23.
Mendelson, M. (1997). Everything must be argued: Rhetorical theory and pedagogical practice in Cicero’s De Oratore. Journal of Education, 179(1), 15-47.
Mendelson, M. (2001). Quintilian and the pedagogy of argument. Argumentation, 15(3), 277-293.
McClerren, B. F. (1965). Introduction in The presidential campaigns of 1928 and 1960: The religious issue. (pp. 1-6). Charleston, IL: Eastern Illinois University Press.
Morris, R. (1973). Seven who shaped our destiny: The founding fathers as revolutionaries. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Novak, M. (1974). Choosing our king: Powerful symbols in presidential politics. New York, NY: Macmillan.
Obama, B. (2008, March 18). A more perfect union. Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobamaperfectunion.htm
“Obama’s Ex-Pastor Speaks Out About Church, Sermons.” (2008, April 28). Cnn.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/28/wright.npc/index.html?iref=nextin.
O’Brien, M. (2005). John F. Kennedy: A biography. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Ofulue, N. I. (2002). President Clinton and the white house prayer breakfast. Journal of Communication and Religion, 25(1), 49-63.
“Protestants in Politics.” (1960, September 19). New Republic, 3-4.
Ross, B., & El-Buri, R. (2008, March 13). Obama’s pastor: God damn America, U.S. to blame for 9/11. Abcnews.com. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/DemocraticDebate/story?id=4443788&page=1.
Rueckert, W. H. (1963). Kenneth Burke and the drama of human relations. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Saslow, E. (2008, March 18). Congregation defends Obama’s ex-pastor. WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031702796.html?noredirect=on
Tesler, M., & Sears, D. O. (2010). Obama’s race: The 2008 election and the dream of a post-racial America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Truman, H. S. (1955). Memoirs: Year of decisions. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Walker, C., & Smithers, G. (2009). The Preacher and the pulpit: Jeremiah
Wright, Barack Obama, and race in America. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.
Warnick, B. (1996). Argument schemes and the construction of social reality: John F. Kennedy’s address to the Houston ministerial association. Communication Quarterly, 44(2), 183- 196.
Weiser, E. M. (2009). ‘As usual I fell on the bias’: Kenneth Burke’s situated dialectic. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 42(2), 134-153.
Whitehead, J. W. (2008, April 30). Rev. Jeremiah Wright: Pariah or Prophet? Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/rev-jeremiah-wrightparia_b_99484.html
