The following article by Mary E. Stuckey was posted on the Washington Post website August 25, 2017:
Presidents like to proclaim the United States is a nation founded on ideals, and our national story is one of coming ever closer to fully enacting those ideals. Ronald Reagan, for example, noted in his response to the Challenger explosion, “We’re still pioneers.” That claim both defined the spirit of the nation and explained the loss of the astronauts as part of the American quest. As part of that pioneering spirit, he pointed to specific virtues — the willingness to serve and sacrifice — and asked the nation to honor them.
Trump’s recent speech in Charlottesville stands out as unusual for failing to include language like this.
In times of crisis, presidential rhetoric can unite the United States behind a shared idea of American values
Such language can both define and unify the nation, as I explored in the research for my book “Defining Americans: The Presidency and National Identity.” Presidential speech often relies on platitudes, for a reason: Platitudes offer widely accepted versions of the national history and the national self, serving as common ground on which the diverse elements of the nation can meet. Presidential rhetoric is a mechanism through which Americans become the unum out of the national pluribus. Continue reading “Unlike Trump, most presidents emphasize our common ideals”