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  • Reagan at Bergen-Belsen and Bitburg
  • B. Wayne Howell
Reagan at Bergen-Belsen and Bitburg. By Richard J. Jensen. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2007; pp. xii + 164. $35.00 cloth; $18.95 paper.

In May 1985, President Reagan attended the Western Economic Summit in Bonn, Germany. The summit concluded just days before the fortieth anniversary of victory by the Allies in World War II. Following the summit, Reagan delivered two speeches on May 5, 1985: the first at the site of the former Bergen Belsen concentration camp, the second at the U.S. Air Force Base in Bitburg, West Germany. Between these two events was a speechless ceremony that had [End Page 334] become surrounded by controversy: a wreath-laying at the Kolmeshohe cemetery in Bitburg. No American soldiers were buried there, and among the approximately 2,000 Germans entombed, almost 50 were Waffen SS soldiers. Many Waffen SS had committed atrocities against Jews, civilians in occupied territories, and American troops. In their advance work, White House staff and other U.S. officials failed to recognize the SS soldiers' graves. Members of the Jewish community, U.S. military veterans, and members of the U.S. Congress voiced their outrage. In response, the White House added a visit to the site of the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with accompanying remarks by Reagan, and the original speech scheduled for the Air Force base took on new meaning.

In Reagan at Bergen-Belsen and Bitburg, Richard J. Jensen examines these speeches as epideictic oratory and concludes that they were not "successful" responses to the controversy that surrounded them. Jensen's approach to evaluating the "degree of success or failure" (xi) of Reagan's speeches makes this book compelling.

Jensen begins his examination of Reagan's speeches by providing alternative portraits of Reagan through the eyes of his supporters and critics (6–11). From Jensen's perspective, despite scholarly evidence to the contrary, President Reagan was disengaged, even uninterested "in foreign affairs" (8). However, Reagan "possess[ed] natural talents as a speaker" (13), a proclivity for humor (27, 39–40), and an amazing ability at "playing the role of president" (27). Jensen's discussion of Reagan's use of humor seems out of place given the subject matter of the book, especially because he fails to explain its relevance to these two speeches. What is clearly relevant in chapter 1 vis-à-vis Jensen's later analysis of Reagan's rhetoric is the larger geopolitical Cold War context in which the speeches were delivered (16–17). Perhaps a deeper consideration of aspects related to that context would help readers better understand Reagan's purpose(s) in accepting an invitation to visit a German military cemetery.

Chapter 3 traces the development of Reagan's two speeches. First, Jensen describes the public controversy that followed the announcement of Reagan's plans to visit the Bitburg cemetery and the attempts by Reagan's staff to quell that controversy. Relying heavily on archived material from the Reagan Library, Jensen provides fascinating insights into the work of Ken Khachigian and Josh Gilder as they helped draft the Bergen-Belsen and Bitburg speeches respectively, tracing the development of themes as they increase in importance and language as it grows in moral vividness (76–90). Here, also, Jensen's previous discussions of Reagan-as-storyteller (25–26, 32–35) are significant as decisions crystallize about which stories to use in Reagan's speeches.

In chapter 4, Jensen analyzes the speeches that he claims "Reagan hoped… would calm many of his critics" (91). The analyses bring out important aspects [End Page 335] of both speeches. In the Bergen-Belsen speech, Jensen notes Reagan's "optimism … repeated through the use of hope" (97), the "theme of rebirth and renewal" (98), Reagan's rhetorical posture as "secular pastor" (97, 99), and his use of "one person [i.e., Anne Frank] to personify all those who suffered at Bergen-Belsen" (99). In the Bitburg speech, Jensen points to Reagan's linking of "the effort by World War II veterans to fight Nazis with the current battle with the Soviet Union and other enemies" (109), rejecting "collective guilt" (111), embracing again...

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