The Rhetorical Presidency

Rating:
Summary: Excellent -- an absolute must-have.
Review: Tulis has written a brilliant account of the changing styles of presidential rhetoric. His essential argument is that the Framers intended the President to use rhetoric only to speak directly to Congress, rarely if ever to the masses, and always to put his ideas in a constitutional framework. But post-Woodrow Wilson, presidents speak directly to the public, even when ostensibly speaking to Congress, and have tried to overcome the constitutional barriers on their power.

This book is well-written and is compact enough to be read quickly, but these features take nothing away from the superlative scholarship (in fact, many dense books could use some judicious editing down to this size). A must-have for all scholars of the presidency, and for the casual reader who wants to learn more about presidential rhetoric.