A study of Hiram W. Johnson\u27s public speaking technique and of his speech composition : as manifested in five of his speeches on United States foreign policy

In the third and fourth decades of the twentieth century Hiram W. Johnson was one of themost important men in Ameican public life. He attained his eminence through the power of the spoken wrod; as a master wielder of that power he is deserving subject for a study to which this thesis claim to be only the plodding and inept introduction. This thesis does not pretend to be an exhaustive study of Johnson\u27s methods for three reason: 1. Its analysis of Johnson\u27s speech composition is restricted to the third of the developmental stages listed above; 2. speeches selected for analyisis are restricted to the topic of U. S. foreing policy; 3. All but one of the speeches were made in the Senate, with its unique speech situation. It was felt that with this study thus qualified, it could not be adequately evaluated, nor could its conclusions be justified, without the inclusion of the speeches themselves in the thesis. This reasoning accountf for the fact that seventy-five percent of thtis thesis--the appendix--was written by Johnson. This paper is an attemps to determine the source of Johnson\u27s personal influences on American foreign policy through an analysis of his oratorical methods and effectiveness