Book Description:
Presidential scholar John Vile brings together a rich collection of speeches, statements, and related information that focus on a subject largely neglected by presidential studies: How successful and unsuccessful candidates for the highest office in the land deal with the outcome of the election. Every four years Americans select one person to occupy the White House for four years. One or more others must deal with their defeat, in public statements and private thoughts. In modern times, victory and concession speeches are an expected part of the election pageant, routinely delivered instantly to the nation's voters on television. It was not always so. Formal concession statements in telegrams and speeches did not emerge until the late 19th century. Even victory speeches developed slowly to their modern form. Vile has collected more than 500 speeches and other documents, from George Washington to George W. Bush, that relate to the outcome of elections. Many are actual candidate statements or speeches, while others are private letters, diary entries, interviews, and newspaper and journal articles. Vile shows how, collectively, they create a window to the thoughts of presidential candidates once the voters have made their choice. Although every other kind of presidential statement has been collected and studied, never before has a scholar brought together in one place material about victory and concessions following races for the White House. Vile treats all presidential elections separately, each with commentary setting the context for the speeches and other material he presents for the victor and the vanquished. He begins the volume with a brilliant analytical essay that shows how victory and concession speeches developed and evolved, and how the study of them helps us understand the American political system. In it he draws parallels between concession and victory speeches and other types of presidential rhetoric, and illustrates how the words and tone of statements serve to heal the wounds of elections campaigns, to set the agenda for an administration, and to rally the partisans of both the winner and loser. In addition, the volume includes a lengthy bibliography, an appendix elections chart to help track election years, candidates, states, and parties and a complete index.
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