Rhetoric for Rearmament: How the Eisenhower Administration sold West German Rearmament to the World

Authors

Wesley Oliver, Ouachita Baptist UniversityFollow

Document Type

Class Paper

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

Rhetoric is one of the most important propaganda tools of the state. Carefully chosen and crafted words enable political leaders to put ideologies into words and present their preferred narrative to the world. Rhetoric becomes especially important when a state or political leader needs to justify something controversial. During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the United States used rhetoric to justify rearming their former enemies West Germany and Japan. In particular, President Dwight Eisenhower used very specific and consistent rhetoric to justify West German rearmament. This rhetoric mirrored that which the United States had used several years earlier to justify Japanese rearmament. In order to understand this rhetoric, it is important to understand the circumstances that led to German and Japanese rearmament.

Comments

This paper was written as part of History Research Seminar (HIST 4603) taught by Dr. Bethany Hicks.

Additionally, this paper was presented at the 2018 Phi Alpha Theta's Biennial Convention. The video of the presentation is embedded below.

Streaming Media

Recommended Citation

Oliver, Wesley, "Rhetoric for Rearmament: How the Eisenhower Administration sold West German Rearmament to the World" (2017). History Class Publications. 50.
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/history/50