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Acknowledgments
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Acknowledgments In the process of writing this book I have been humbled many times. Like any writer, I have been humbled by how much I have not known about the subject matter herein. Henry Steele Commager once wrote that it would take “a thousand essays to penetrate to the truth about America.” Although there were times when I took his words literally as I revised this work, most of the time I took them to mean that all any author writing about the nature of democracy in the United States can hope for is to provide a glimpse into part of this truth. If I have met this goal in the pages that follow, it is surely because I have been helped by so many people. Foremost among these helpers is Roderick P. Hart, to whom the book is dedicated. This work began as a doctoral dissertation under his direction at the University of Texas at Austin. Although the study has been revised and expanded since I finished my doctorate, I will be forever indebted to him for first encouraging me to think imaginatively, broadly, and fearlessly. While I was on the faculty of the Department of Speech Communication at Texas A&M University, I was also humbled by the intellectual generosity of the many colleagues and students who supported this project. I am especially grateful to Martin J. Medhurst, Kurt Ritter, Leroy Dorsey, and James A. Aune, all members of the Program in Presidential Rhetoric at Texas A&M University . Other members of the department, especially Charles Conrad, Susan Gilbertz, Katherine Miller, Barbara Sharf, Scott Poole, Linda Putnam, Richard Street, and Antonio La Pastina, also provided multiple types of support. Graduate students enrolled in my course on communication and American political culture at Texas A&M during the fall of helped me refine some of these arguments, as did the multiple sections of undergraduates enrolled in the course “American Voices.” Of this latter group, the incomparably talented Kristin H. Hill later became my research assistant. Within the College of Liberal Arts, James Rosenheim, Mary Ann O’Farrell, Edward Portis, and James Burk were also kind enough to take an interest in this project. Outside of Texas A&M, this work has benefited from the interest and counsel of Davis Houck, Melvin Laracey, Tarla Peterson, David Ryfe, Mary Stuckey, and Jeffrey Tulis, among others. As I prepared this book for publication after I joined the faculty at Southern Methodist University, Catharine Flagg was an excellent research assistant. The research presented in this book received institutional support from several sources. First, the LBJ Foundation of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Museum and Library provided a Moody Grant that defrayed some of the expenses of archival work. In addition, I have also received grant support from the Center for Presidential Studies at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University. Some of my research presented here has been previously published. Portions of the introduction appeared in “Making Diversity Safe for Democracy: American Pluralism and the Presidential Local Address, –,” Quarterly Journal of Speech (): –. Likewise, chapters one and two feature some material published in “The Rhetoric of Ideological Consensus in the United States: American Principles and the American Prose in Presidential Inaugurals,” Communication Monographs (): –. Finally, earlier drafts of parts of chapter five appeared in “Engendering Democratic Change: How Three U.S. Presidents Discussed Female Suffrage,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs , no. (): –. On a more personal level, I have been sustained by the support of family and friends. Some friends, especially Suzanne Daughton, Joanne Gilbert, Jennifer Long, and Rena Minar, have shared the delights and challenges of balancing academic work and motherhood. Other friends, especially Adam’s godparents, Steve Trahan and Ashlea Willet, have kept me sane by listening to me and taking Adam on outings when I needed extra time to work. In this same vein, all of Adam’s grandparents have been incredible sources of support for both my husband Trey and me. Apparently it does take a village to raise a child, especially when you are writing a book at the same time. In coparenting this book, the staff of Texas A&M University Press deserves special mention. They went out of their way to help me on many occasions and were very understanding of my work and my situation. I am especially grateful to Maureen Creamer Bemko for her masterful copyediting. It has been said before, but I would like to thank Adam, my first son, for making sure it took a long time to write this book. His...