Margaret Thatcher's America: Cultural rhetorical criticism

This study explores Margaret Thatcher's rhetorical construction of the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States. It argues that Thatcher's Atlanticist ideology was part of a larger hegemonic project that defined Britain's relationship with Europe, as well as the United States. A "cultural pentad" is developed to analyze her ideological depiction of the "special relationship." This instrument integrates the critical textual approaches of American rhetorical studies and British cultural studies by demonstrating how five symbolic forms, significant to the rhetorical functioning of ideology--metaphor, social narrative, social myth, persona, and dominant symbols--are articulated, or combined together, to form a coherent ideological vision. The cultural pentad is applied to four of Thatcher's speeches in order to trace the rhetorical formation and evolution of her Atlanticist ideology.; It was discovered that Thatcher appealed to her audiences as a modern Jeremiah, communicating her vision of a chosen people on a journey ... a people who are threatened by internal as well as external sources of evil. Thatcher perpetuates Churchill's myth ofa union of "English-speaking peoples" who have, since they emerged united from the ashes of World War II, heroically battled the evil forces of Communism. While Thatcher adapted her vision to changing historical and social circumstances, she maintained the basic rhetorical framework of a jeremiad over the course of her tenure as British Prime Minister.; This project concludes by arguing that Margaret Thatcher's rhetorical ideology of the "special relationship" constrained her political choices, preventing her from supporting a more fully integrated European Community, even in the face of popular support for that integration. It ends by speculating on the influence of Margaret Thatcher's rhetorical legacy on British politics, in the context of the 1997 British general election. It is suggested that the political leadership of both New Labour and the Conservatives have adopted and perpetuated significant elements of Thatcher's rhetorical ideology, six years after she left office.