Thomson, Graeme M. (2014) Heirs of the revolution: the founding heritage in American presidential rhetoric since 1945. PhD thesis http://theses.gla.ac.uk/5103/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Heirs of the Revolution: The Founding Heritage in American Presidential Rhetoric Since 1945 Graeme Michael Thomson MA MLitt Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Humanities College of Arts University of Glasgow October 2013 2 Abstract The history of the United States’ revolutionary origins has been a persistently prevalent source of reference in the public speeches of modern American presidents. Through an examination of the character and context of allusions to this history in presidential rhetoric since 1945, this thesis presents an explanation for this ubiquity. America’s founding heritage represents a valuable – indeed, an essential – source for the purposes of presidential oratory. An analysis of the manner in which presidents from Harry Truman to Barack Obama have invoked and adapted specific aspects of this heritage in their public rhetoric exposes a distinctly usable past, employed in different contexts and in advancing specific messages. Chapters devoted to the references of modern presidents to the Declaration of Independence, to the Constitution, and to four of the nation’s Founding Fathers, demonstrate that distinct elements of the founding heritage can be invoked in different ways. In sum, however, they reveal that allusions to this history have served three, sometimes overlapping, purposes in modern presidential discourse. Firstly, and most commonly, this history has proved an essential source on the numerous occasions in which presidents have reflected upon and reaffirmed the enduring character of American national identity. Secondly, such is the prominence of the founding heritage in the collective memory of Americans that presidents have been able to invoke elements of this familiar history pertinent to their discussion of a diverse range of contemporary concerns. Finally, and most significantly, this rhetoric has very often been applied for more pragmatic and partisan reasons. Given the veneration of the founding heritage in American culture and the acceptance that the democratic ideals then established remain essential to the purpose and direction of the nation, this thesis argues that presidents have found political value in implying their own inheritance of the Founders’ incontestable legacy. In speeches delivered across the shifting contexts of the post-war period, presidents have explicitly aligned their policy goals with the values and vision of the nation’s first leaders, interpreting and adapting the Founders’ words in a manner supportive of their public message. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 4 Note on Sources 5 I: Modern American Presidents and the Founding Heritage 6 Chapter 1: Introduction 6 Chapter 2: Heirs of the Revolution 22 II: The Founding Documents 51 Chapter 3: The Declaration of Independence 54 Chapter 4: The Constitution 79 III: The Founding Fathers 104 Chapter 5: Washington, Franklin and Paine 107 Chapter 6: Jefferson 139 IV: Conclusion 167 Bibliography 175 4 Acknowledgements This project could not have been completed without the generous financial assistance of several institutions. I am enormously grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the College of Arts at the University of Glasgow for granting the studentship that allowed me to pursue this work. My sincere thanks are owed also to the awards committees at the British Association for American Studies, the American Politics Group, and the Department of History at Glasgow. Their significant contributions towards my travel costs made possible my research in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. For a hugely valuable and enjoyable month in Charlottesville, I am indebted finally to the fellowship committee at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. The aid and advice of the welcoming staff and scholars working at the Center was invaluable during a month in which the progress of my thesis advanced significantly. I thank them and so too James Green and the staff at the Library Company of Philadelphia, who helped me find my feet in the early days. There are several people without whom I could not have completed this long and challenging process. I am indebted first to my supervisors, Professor Simon Newman and Dr. Marina Moskowitz. Their advice, their understanding and their consistent faith in and enthusiasm for my project has been of great support. In the Department of History at Glasgow, I have been grateful for the company and help of staff and students over many years. Particular mention is owed to May Rosenthal, my friend and officemate, and to Alison Peden, a constant source of help and kindness. She is much missed. I will forever feel fortunate to have had the love and unerring support of Lisa Main, in whose company I began this project and shared so much else. Without family and friends, I simply could not have weathered the challenges of the last four years. When personal circumstances obscured my work and much else besides, it was on them that I relied. For their kindness, their humour, their comfort and their advice, I am especially grateful to Anna Miles, Laura Tansley, Craig Currie, Micaela Maftei, Gemma Tougher and Matt Brennan. I thank too my brother and his family. My greatest thanks are reserved, as ever, for my parents, the wisest of advisers and the most caring of supporters. I dedicate this work to the memory of my grandfather. His yellowing map of the United States has hung above my desk for the past four years, a reminder always of a forebear truly worth emulating. 5 Note on Sources: A project of this scope would not have been possible without access to The American Presidency Project, the only online resource that has consolidated and coded into a single searchable database the ‘Public Papers of the Presidents’. Established in 1999 at the University of California, the archive contains the vast majority of the president’s public messages, statements, speeches, and news conference remarks, collated from the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, various dates). Every presidential speech cited in this thesis is drawn from The American Presidency Project database. To include a long website address for every individual speech cited would have resulted in extremely cumbersome footnotes. In each case, therefore, I have included simply the author/speaker, and the title and date of the speech as it appears in the online archive. Every presidential speech cited was accessed via the search function in the ‘Public Papers of the Presidents’ section of the website: John Woolley and Gerhard Peters ed., ‘The Public Papers of the Presidents’, The American Presidency Project (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/#axzz2gVQdSVpU) [1999-2013]. Individual speeches can easily be retrieved through searching ‘By Month and Year’, or by performing specific word or phrase searches. 6 I. Modern American Presidents and the Founding Heritage 1. Introduction On the afternoon of July 4, 2013, the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. was a lively scene. Several hundred military personnel and their families had been invited to the president’s official residence to celebrate the 237th anniversary of American independence. Children ran between the red, white and blue tables on the grass; smoke rose from a barbecue; the uniformed members of the Marine Band readied themselves to perform. President Barack Obama, emerging on the south portico to address the crowd, did not intend to speak for long. ‘I don’t want to keep you from the food’, he said. He wanted though to explain, especially to the children listening, what was ‘so special’ about the day, what made it more than ‘an excuse for some hotdogs’. What followed was a summary of the nation’s origins familiar to all Americans: On July 4, 1776, a small band of patriots declared that we were a people created equal, free to think and worship and live as we please; that our destiny would not be determined for us, it would be determined by us. And it was bold and it was brave. And it was unprecedented; it was unthinkable. At that time in human history, it was kings and princes and emperors who made decisions. But those patriots knew there was a better way of doing things, that freedom was possible, and that to achieve their freedom, they'd be willing to lay down their lives, their fortunes, their honor. And so they fought a revolution. And few would have bet on their side, but for the first time of many times to come, America proved the doubters wrong. The president offered more than a history lesson. He emphasised that America’s revolutionary birth established a sense of direction and purpose that has guided the nation ever since: And now, 237 years later, this improbable experiment in democracy, the United States of America, stands as the greatest nation on Earth. And what makes us great is, not our size or our wealth, but our values and our ideals and the fact that we're willing to fight for them.