18
Figure 7
While the overall pattern of the rhetoric in Reagan’s speech is steady, there is some variation. Of
course, we should not expect that staff will battle over all aspects of presidential rhetoric. For example,
accounts from within the Reagan administration suggest that the internal debates over Reagan’s Berlin
Wall speech were the most intense of the administration. A sample of the extensive revisions offered up
by the National Security Council is included in Appendix B. As Figure 7 shows, the overall rhetoric of
the speech shifted relatively little (26% of the normal range) during the development of that speech.
However, the average of the shift in all the variables conceals large shifts in “rapport,” (58%)
“cooperation” (68%) and “liberation” (59%) where the battle over the speech was fought. Figure 8 tracks
the shift in cooperative rhetoric was initially scarce in the speech, but appeared as the concerns of the
National Security Council and the State Department prevailed as the speech moved through the process.
While the changes in the rhetoric after the first set of drafts are small, it is clear that noticeable changes in
rhetoric were occurring throughout the process.
Convention