Dyer, Samuel Coad, Jr. : Evaluating Reagan as a Conservative Speaker: Utilizing Richard M. Weaver's Critical Methodology as a Rhetorical Tool in a Content Analysis of a Set of Randomly Selected Speeches by Ronald Wilson Reagan

This thesis seeks to describe the Rhetoric of President Ronald Reagan in terms of the topology of argument offered by Richard M. Weaver. The topology, known as the "critical methodology," seeks to characterize speakers as either liberal or conservative based upon the type of major premise most often used in their speeches. The research hypothesis is centered on the establishment of a characterization of Ronald Reagan's Speaking based on Weaver's system of argument. Namely, does Ronald Reagan habitually use the arguments of the conservative speaker? The types of arguments described by weaver include 1) genus, 2) similitude, 3) consequence, and 4) circumstance. This thesis uses Weaver's system to conduct a content analysis of twenty randomly selected speeches from the public speeches made by Ronald Reagan. The author uses Weaver's system of argument to code speeches by the President, and the data gathered from the coding procedures will be used to conduct the content analysis. Beginning with a pilot study, the thesis outlines a way to use Weaver's system of argument as a rhetorical tool. Examples of each type of argument are offered from the speeches of Lincoln and Edmond Burke, upon whom Weaver bases the topology. Examples of each type of argument from the speeches of Ronald Reagan are discussed. Additionally, coding procedures and an understanding of the use of Weaver's system are developed from the research efforts of Floyd and Adams of Central Missouri State University. Floyd and Adams believe that Weaver's assumptions about argument are essentially correct. A step by step procedure for the content analysis is developed from the communication literature. The research questions are established as 1) does Ronald Reagan argue like a conservative speaker? and 2) Does Reagan use the argument from genus more than any other type of argument? Statistical parameters were established for each question. In terms of each hypothesis: Argument frequency of sixty percent was established for the conservative category in the ...