Building Alliances or Rallying the Base
Civil Religious Rhetoric and the Modern Presidency
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6183264 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Flavio R Hickel Jr (University of Delaware), Flavio Rogerio Hickel (0000-0002-7498-137X, University of Delaware, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 385-416 |
| Publication date | 2019-09-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Congress & the Presidency (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0734-3469 • E-ISSN: 1944-1053 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07343469.2019.1569175 |
| OpenAlex | W2953656080 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 68 |
Civil religious rhetoric has been utilized throughout American history to legitimize political interests by drawing upon broadly shared beliefs regarding the nation’s identity, meaning, and purpose in the world. Although scholars have traditionally assumed this rhetoric was employed to unify the nation, others emphasize its potential to exacerbate conflict as policy debates morph into battles over the national identity. This research project analyzes presidential speeches from Franklin Roosevelt through Barack Obama (1939–2012) and finds that the type of speech delivered, public approval of the president, and the partisan composition of Congress influence the prevalence of civil religious rhetoric. It concludes that modern presidents have more often relied upon civil religion to rally the partisan base than build alliances with the opposition
Epistemology · Meaning (existential · Media studies · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political rhetoric · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Presidential system · Rhetoric · Sociology · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Public Administration · Religion and Society Interactions
What Americans know about politics and why it matters
The broken covenant
Bias, prevalence and kappa
Computing Inter-Rater Reliability for Observational Data
American Politics
On Deaf Ears
Religious Rhetoric and American Politics
The New American Political System
Ideology
Presidential communication in tumultuous times
Civil religion and the arms race
The rhetoric of ideological consensus in the United States
Religious rhetoric meets the target audience
Presidential Rhetoric and the Power of Definition
Studying the Polarized Presidency
Party Polarization and the Ascendance of Bipartisan Posturing as a Dominant Strategy in Presidential Rhetoric
Yes, Ronald Reagan's Rhetoric Was Unique—But Statistically, How Unique
Evolution of the Modern Rhetorical Presidency
Studying the Polarized Presidency
If the News Is So Bad, Why Are Presidential Polls So High? Presidents, the News Media, and the Mass Public in an Era of New Media
Presidents, Polarization, and Divided Government
The Major Addresses of Modern Presidents
American Presidential Rhetoric from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush
Civil Religion in an Uncivil Society
Acclaiming, attacking, and defending in presidential nominating acceptance addresses, 1960–1996
Integrative Complexity of 41 U.S. Presidents
The nature of belief systems in mass publics (1964)
Follow the Leader? Presidential Approval, Presidential Support, and Representatives' Electoral Fortunes
Dividers, Not Uniters
Courting Christians
The Marginal and Time-Varying Effect of Public Approval on Presidential Success in Congress
Presidential Activities from Truman through Reagan
God Talk
Presidential inaugurals
Dog-Whistle Politics
The Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents
Presidential Rhetoric and the Public Agenda
The Policy Agendas of the President and the Mass Public
Identity Salience, Identity Acceptance, and Racial Policy Attitudes
Passing the President's Program
Cueing God
Pre- to postelection shifts in presidential rhetoric
The Best of Times and the Worst of Times
The Politics of Presidential Speeches
A Proposed Neutral Definition of Civil Religion
Civil religion in America
Religion and Political Process in an American City
George W. Bush and the Partisan Presidency
Civil Religion
"Ronald Reagan's "Revival
Who Is Civil Religious
The Broken Covenant
American Civil Religion from 1789 to 1981
Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz
The Politics of Presidential Speechmaking, 1949-1980
Religious Rhetoric in American Populism
Operationalizing the Civil Religion Concept at a Cross-Cultural Level
Civil religion, social indicators, and public policy
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |