Ideologues, ideographs, and “the best men”: From carter to Reagan
- 30 December 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Southern Speech Communication Journal
- Vol. 49 (1) , 12-25
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10417948309372585
Abstract
This essay argues that Republican malfeasance during the Watergate episodes provided Jimmy Carter with an excellent opportunity to structure for himself a presidential image of “good moral character,” “intelligence” and “competency"—an ideographic cluster mirroring the nineteenth century's definition of “best men.” However, it is further argued that Carter's handling of this opportunity resulted in these ideographs being used against him during the 1980 Reagan‐Carter campaign.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
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