Who Belongs in America?: Presidents, Rhetoric, and ImmigrationVanessa B. Beasley Texas A&M University Press, 2006 M07 11 - 296 pages “How can the immigrant of yesterday be lionized as the very foundation of the nation’s character, while the immigrant of today is often demonized as a threat to the nation’s safety and stability?” ask volume editor Vanessa B. Beasley in her introduction to this timely book. As the nation’s ceremonial as well as political leader, presidents through their rhetoric help to create the frame for the American public’s understanding of immigration. In an overarching essay and ten case studies, Who Belongs in America? Explores select moments in U.S. immigration history, focusing on the presidential discourse that preceded, address, or otherwise corresponded to events. These chapters, which originated as presentations at the Texas A&M University Conference on Presidential Rhetoric, share a common interest in how, when and under what circumstances U.S. presidents or their administrations have negotiated the tension that lies at the heart of the immigration issue in the United States. The various authors look at the dual views of immigrants as either scapegoats for cultural fears, especially during trying times. U.S. presidents have had to navigate between these two motifs, and they have chosen different ways to do so. Indeed, as these studies show, their words have sometimes been at odds with their deeds and policies. Since 9/11, few issues have more public significance than how America views immigrants. The contributors to this volume provide context that will help inform the public debate, as well as the scholarship, for years to come. Vanessa B. Beasley, an associate professor of communication at the University of Georgia, is the author of You, the People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric, also published by Texas A&M University Press. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Texas at Austin. |
From inside the book
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... United States of America All rights reserved First edition The paper used in this book meets the minimum ... United States - Emigration and immigration - Government policy- Case studies . 2. Political oratory - United States - Case ...
... United States has often been viewed primarily as a public policy problem , it represents something of a rhetorical dilemma as well . As a " nation of immigrants , " which the United States is often called , how can the country justify ...
... United States . Put differently , these chapters enable us to ask to what extent past really can be read as prologue . In a sense , then , the chapters in this book ultimately beg a larger set of questions related to the Myrdallian ...
... United States as a haven for those seeking freedom from political or religious oppression , or both . To take too strong an anti - immigrant stance might be to chip away at the symbolic resilience of these ideals and therefore suggest ...
... United States there is a great body of literature that heralds the immigrant as a symbol of hope , freedom , and opportunity , just as there is a rich and storied history documenting the American people's fear that immigration is a ...
Contents
President of All the People | 19 |
The Aliens Are Coming The Federalist Attack on the First Amendment | 37 |
Presidents and Religious Diversity in the Nineteenth Century | 61 |
Chinese Exclusion Causes and Consequences 18821943 | 89 |
Hooking the Hyphen Woodrow Wilsons War Rhetoric and the Italian American Community | 107 |
Immigration and the Red Scare | 134 |
Can the Alien Speak? The McCarranWalter act and the First Amendment | 149 |
Questions of Race Caste and Citizenship Hector P Garcia Lyndon B Johnson and the Polemics of the Bracero Immigrant Labor Program | 183 |
Rhetorical Ambivalence Bush and Clinton Address the Crisis of Haitian Refugees | 206 |
The Class Politics of Cultural Pluralism Presidential Campaigns and the Latino Vote | 247 |
A New Hope or a Recurring Fear? | 272 |
Contributors | 279 |
283 | |
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Who Belongs in America?: Presidents, Rhetoric, and Immigration Vanessa B. Beasley Limited preview - 2006 |