Prof speaks on rhetoric during military crisis

Susan Zaeske, assistant professor of communication arts, will give the free public talk “Word Wars: American Military Crisis Rhetoric” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, at the Middleton Public Library, 7425 Hubbard Ave., Middleton.

The talk is part of “The Constitution Now,” a series of forums at Dane County libraries that address questions about the rights and obligations of American citizens in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The forums are presented by the Center for the Humanities in conjunction with the Dane County Library Service.

Zaeske will discuss the “speech acts” that have been employed by U.S. presidents in response to national crises such as the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, and the events of Sept. 11.

Zaeske will present video and audio excerpts of Roosevelt’s “Declaration of War,” Kennedy’s “Quarantine Speech,” and Bush’s “Speech to the Joint Session of Congress and the American People” while discussing the strategies of persuasion they employed to justify military action within Constitutional limits and to rally the American people.

Zaeske’s research focuses on political rhetoric, particularly that of the early nineteenth century, and she is the author of “We Have Done What We Could: Petitioning, Antislavery, and Women’s Political Identity,” forthcoming from the University of North Carolina Press. Zaeske teaches a popular undergraduate course entitled “Great Speakers and Speeches,” which she modified this past semester in response to Sept. 11 in order to help students come to terms with speeches of national crisis, religion and politics, and fascistic rhetoric.

For more information on Zaeske’s talk, call (608) 831-5564.

Other free public talks in the series are:

• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5: Deerfield Public Library, 12 W. Nelson St., (608) 764-8102. Andrew Wolpert, assistant professor of classics and history, “Freedom and Democracy: Lessons from Antiquity.”
• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12: ., Sun Prairie Public Library, 1350 Linnerud Drive, (608) 825-7323. John Cooper, professor of history, “The Role of Civil Liberties in War Time.”
• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19: McFarland Municipal Center, Community Room, 5915 Milwaukee St., (608) 838-4590. Howard Schweber, assistant professor of political science, “The First Amendment After Sept. 11.”
• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26: Oregon Public Library, 256 Brook St., (608) 835-3656. Lester Hunt, professor of philosophy, “Military Tribunals: National Security Versus the Constitution?”