TY - JOUR
T1 - In God We Trust, with God We Fight. Religion in U.S. Presidential War Rhetoric
T2 - From Johnson to Obama
AU - Diez-Bosch, Miriam
AU - Franch, Pere
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper is part of the project CSO2014-52283-C2-2-P, “Political information, Twitter and Democracy,” from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Spain.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2017/2/15
Y1 - 2017/2/15
N2 - In times of war, religion features prominently in U.S. presidential rhetoric. It may be used to strengthen courage and hope or to serve as a powerful tool for accepting sacrifices and losses. In this article we examine the speeches of five presidents given specifically in periods of war: Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Then we analyze variations in the volume and type of religious content among these presidents; we use a textual content analysis methodology to study a representative sample of speeches given by the above-mentioned presidents in time of war. We conclude that U.S. presidents try to persuade the audience that the country is going to war to accomplish God’s will. Under this light, religious rhetoric appears to have a higher correlation with the enemy being fought than with the personal convictions of each president.
AB - In times of war, religion features prominently in U.S. presidential rhetoric. It may be used to strengthen courage and hope or to serve as a powerful tool for accepting sacrifices and losses. In this article we examine the speeches of five presidents given specifically in periods of war: Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Then we analyze variations in the volume and type of religious content among these presidents; we use a textual content analysis methodology to study a representative sample of speeches given by the above-mentioned presidents in time of war. We conclude that U.S. presidents try to persuade the audience that the country is going to war to accomplish God’s will. Under this light, religious rhetoric appears to have a higher correlation with the enemy being fought than with the personal convictions of each president.
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U2 - 10.1080/15348423.2017.1274588
DO - 10.1080/15348423.2017.1274588
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85012977974
SN - 1534-8423
VL - 16
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - Journal of Media and Religion
JF - Journal of Media and Religion
IS - 1
ER -