Reagan's Soviet Rhetoric

How did Ronald Reagan go from calling the Soviet Union an "e;evil empire"e; in his first term as president to saying the US had "e;forged a satisfying new closeness"e; with the Soviets by the end of his second term? In Reagan's Soviet Rhetoric: Telling the Soviet Redemption Story, rhetorical scholar Mark LaVoie examines the ways Reagan negotiated his shift from a vehemently anti-communist discourse to a rhetoric of guarded optimism about the future of US-Soviet relations that ultimately revealed a Soviet redemption narrative. Following Reagan's Soviet rhetoric from his 1947 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee to his Farewell Address in 1989, LaVoie considers the President's use of "e;Soviet/Nazi analogy,"e; "e;historical narrative,"e; "e;reciprocity,"e; and other rhetorical strategies in creating the narrative. Scholars and students of rhetoric, history, and international relations will find this book particularly interesting.