Eugene Talmadge ― Rhetoric and Response

Logue notes in Talmadge's speeches the seeds of today's public discourse, preoccupied as it often is with distorting issues and conduct. Eugene Talmadge based his political rise in Georgia on appeals to the experiences, values, and prejudices of his listeners; perceptions that were geographic, social, and racial. For Talmadge, campaign issues were ultimately less important than his colorful persona and seductive public oratory--a brand of politics that came to be known as "Talmadgeism." This volume represents a landmark study in the genre of rhetoric by which citizens and issues are exploited primarily for personal political goals.

CALVIN McLEOD LOGUE is a Professor at the University of Georgia who specializes in the history and criticism of southern discourse. He published essays on southern rhetoric inCommunication Monographs and Quarterly Journal of Speech. He wrote one of the essays inOratory in the New South, and coedited Oratory of Southern Demagogues andA New Diversity in Contemporary Southern Rhetoric. He contributed essays toAmerican Orators Before 1900: Critical Studies and Sources and American Orators of the Twentieth Century: Critical Studies and Sources. The Research Foundation of the University of Georgia awarded Logue the Creative Research Medal for published analysis of southern discourse.