Abstract
Despite scandal after scandal, President William Jefferson Clinton delivered jeremiads throughout his presidential campaign in 1992 and through his eight years as president. Though his scandals had a detrimental effect on his credibility, they did not prevent Clinton from issuing a moral rebuke in the form of a jeremiad. Since jeremiads are traditionally associated with speakers of high moral standing, Clinton's use of the jeremiad raises questions regarding the ability of a speaker with questionable morals to rebuke an audience for violations of community values. This thesis explores the religious and civil religious nature of the jeremiad and focuses on the persona of the speaker of a jeremiad. Specifically, this is a study of three of Clinton's jeremiads, which examines the personae Clinton adopted when delivering these jeremiads while under the cloud of scandal. Despite accusations regarding his own abandonment of moral values, Clinton delivered jeremiads rebuking others of their abandonment of values by adopting civil religious personae and thus basing his credibility on his adopted personae, rather than his past behavior.
French, Charles Burton (2002). The persona of the presidential jeremiad: a case study of President Clinton's jeremiads. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -2002 -THESIS -F93.