The making of a hero : Franklin Roosevelt's preparation for a third-term presidential election

This study offers a mythical examination of the addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first two terms of presidency. The direction of the study is to determine the use of the hero persona in Roosevelt's goal of gaining an unprecedented third-term presidential reelection.The study overviews the historic American public attitude toward the concept of a president being elected for a third consecutive term. Close attention is given to the fears of Americans during the late thirties generated from both the Great Depression and the current war in Europe and Asia. Drawing upon comments from various authorities and particularly those of Roosevelt's 1940 election opponent Wendal Willkie, the study establishes that many Americans were afraid that a third-term election would give Roosevelt too much power, and that many compared this power to/ dictatorships like those in Italy and Nazi Germany.-.Examination of numerous addresses by Roosevelt before the 1940 election reveals that FDR established a dramatistic rhetorical framework in which he cast a variety of players including the American people, Congress, the financial leaders of the Nation, foreign countries and dictatorships. These were cast as villains, victims and heroes.Two of the victims were democracy and the American Dream, both being threatened from without and from within America. The study looks at ways Roosevelt cast himself in this drama as the hero and defender of these two myths.Department of Speech CommunicationThesis (M.A.