Date of Award

Summer 1965

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Bovee, Warren G.

Second Advisor

Host, David

Third Advisor

Helbert, Clifford L.

Abstract

To many Americans, both scholars of the history of journalism and laymen, the name Horace Greeley is synonymous with journalistic integrity and persuasive excellence. During his lifetime, Greeley won wide fame through the editorials which appeared in the columns of his New-York Tribune. Public respect for the wisdom and eloquence apparent in these editorials contributed to his being a contender for the Presidential nomination within the Republican Party of his day. Granting Greeley's genius as an editorial writer, the student of rhetoric today is moved to examine that genius as an editorial writer, the student of rhetoric today is moved to examine that genius closely in an effort to better understand it. A number of questions arise in the process of such examination. Were the principles of rhetoric which Greeley applied peculiar to him and his talent, or can Greeley's editorial writing be explained in terms of a rhetorical standard either his own or that of another? This study will attempt to follow the line of questions which follows from those above. In short, this study will attempt to answer each of the following questions: Did Horace Greeley set forth a standard of rhetoric in light of which his won editorials might be examined? If not, which outside standard might be fairly used as a basis for such an examination? Which of Greeley's editorials can be used in such a study? What does the resultant comparison indicate? The first step in this study, then will be an attempt to determine whether Horace Greeley actually set out a rhetorical system.

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