Presidential Communication to Children: An Analysis of Persuasive Strategies in Presidential Speeches

This thesis explores the content of presidential communication to children, specifically the only three presidential speeches that have been designed for children. These three speeches are President Barack Obama's speech to children in 2009, George H.W. Bush's speech to children in 1991, and Ronald Reagan's speech to children in 1988. Through content analysis this thesis was designed to determine whether persuasive strategies were used in these messages to children, and if persuasive strategies were present, which ones were used. Through qualitative analysis conducting a focus group discussion with children exposed to one of the presidential speeches, this thesis also explored the speeches from children's perspectives. Political socialization theory is used as framework for developing the study, and three persuasive theories are used for analysis of the speeches. The findings provide insight into presidential communication to children and implications of future research in this area. Findings suggest that persuasive strategies are present and a variety of techniques are utilized in the speeches. The purpose and common topics of these speeches are also explored. Focus group findings support that children can identify persuasive strategies present in the speeches and provide insight into the knowledge children retain from exposure to the communication.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Communication

Year

2010

Author dc:creator

• Grice, Patricia Joyce

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Jennifer L. Lewis (Director), Dr. Daniel Modaff, Dr. Blair Thompson

• United States political leadership
• Political oratory
• United States presidential messages
• President Obama's speech to children 2009
• George H.W. Bush speech to children 1991
• Ronald Reagan speech to children 1988
• Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication
• Social Influence and Political Communication
• Speech and Rhetorical Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/185

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-1187