major party candidates are as unknown to the public at large as was George W. Bush. Hence, he and his staff well realized the potential consequence of his acceptance address.

The original plan for this book included a brief introduction that would set the stage for a book about contemporary presidential campaign speeches by examining the first real campaign speech by a U.S. presidential candidate. However, the significance of the campaign of William Henry Harrison, recognized by relatively few communication scholars with the conspicuous exception of Robert Gunderson, and the lack of any readily available analysis of Harrison’s speaking, caused me to believe that Harrison’s 11 June 1840 speech at Fort Meigs warranted a full chapter. The circumstances that gave rise to that speech and the timeliness of Harrison’s themes are a fitting prelude to an examination of more contemporary presidential campaign speeches.

I began by observing that any attempt to identify notable speeches in presidential campaigns is certainly likely to generate questions. With all our focus on the techniques and technology of contemporary politics, it is easy to forget that the definitive statements of most candidates are still made in public speeches. To the extent that this attempt at identifying and studying a group of significant speeches stimulates discussion and thought about speeches and speaking in political campaigns it will have been successful.

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