Gendered voices: rhetorical agency and the political career of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Abstract

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton‟s public life represents a specific moment when a generation of women started to materially symbolize the progress made by feminist activists. Because of the struggles of previous reformers, Rodham Clinton was able to serve as a corporate lawyer, a First Lady of the United States, a health care reformer, a foreign diplomat, a candidate, a U.S. Senator, and a presidential front-runner. She is also the third woman to hold the post of U.S. Secretary of State. Rodham Clinton has a public resume unmatched by any political woman, but her success has also made her the victim of misogynistic symbolic violence. She is the most (mis)interpreted figure in U.S. politics. This project analyzes significant moments of public address in the life of Rodham Clinton. Her career presents transitional spaces from which to understand rhetorical agency, voice, and gender. The chapters cover: (1) Rodham Clinton‟s speeches promoting the 1993 Clinton healthcare reform, (2) Rodham Clinton‟s U.N. address in Beijing China, (3) Rodham Clinton‟s 1996 Democratic National Convention Address, (4) a collection of speeches that Rodham Clinton offered on the 2002 Iraq conflict, (5) Rodham Clinton‟s presidential campaign rhetoric, and (6) Rodham Clinton‟s 2008 Democratic National Convention Address.