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Writing JFK:
Presidential Rhetoric and the Press in the Bay of Pigs Crisis
Library of Presidential Rhetoric

Thomas W. Benson

Following the dramatic Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961, President John F. Kennedy moved to repair the damage the invasion had done to his image and to his relations with the press. Thomas W. Benson examines two speeches and a press conference held by JFK in the days after the crisis, shedding light on how the structures of speech writing influence the texts of the speeches and policy formation, as well as the ways the press mediates and even helps to formulate presidential rhetoric.

Writing JFK provides the full text of both speeches and the press conference, as well as Benson’s analysis of what would come to be known as “spin control.” He demonstrates how the speeches display the implicit collaboration of Kennedy with his speech writers and the press to create a depiction of Kennedy as a political and moral agent. A central feature of the book is Benson’s exploration of “the enormous power of the presidency to compel press restraint and to command the powers of publicity.”

The resulting insight into the relationship among the press, politics, and public policy will appeal to all those interested in political communication, the power of the American president, and the legacy of JFK.

THOMAS W. BENSON is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Rhetoric at Pennsylvania State University. He lives in University Park, Pennsylvania.

 

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