State of the world: Presidential rhetoric at the United Nations

Authors

• Jason A. Edwards, Bridgewater State University
• Zoe Hess Carney, Southern Methodist University
• Kory Hoyt, Unaffiliated

Abstract

In 1982, President Reagan spoke to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for the first time. In doing so, Reagan established a presidential tradition that, we argue, created a new genre of presidential rhetoric. Like the State of the Union speech, presidents, in this address, outline their vision for U.S. foreign policy and global politics for the coming year. Specifically, presidents mediate on the history and values of the United Nations, assess the current state of global affairs, and offer policy recommendations to deal with those issues. Examining presidential rhetoric at the United Nations offers a heuristic to understand U.S. foreign policy, account for similarities and differences between Democratic and Republican presidents and assess a president’s vision for global politics.

First Page

1

Last Page

18

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Edwards, J. A., Carney, Z. H., & Hoyt, K. (2026). State of the world: Presidential rhetoric at the United Nations. Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal, 49(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.56816/2471-0032.1183