The Eloquence of Frederick Jackson Turner
Ronald Carpenter
Huntington Library Press, 1983
ISBN: 978-0-8732-8078-5
In reading history, people often form attitudes which affect their future actions. Historians thus have the opportunity to persuade and influence a wide audience. Frederick Jackson Turner was particularly persuasive, largely because of his eloquent style. This study of Turner's rhetoric reveals the ways in which he influenced a broad specturm of Americans and the means by which he did so. Letters to Turner, to his family, and other primary source material from the Huntington collection are analyzed and his oratorical career is also described in detail from his high school experiences to his university activities. The influence of Robert M. La Follette is treated in some detail. Noteworthy examples of Tuner’s oratory are reprinted including “The Power of the Press” (the high school commencement address), the 1913 eulogy of Reuben Gold Thwaites, “Social Forces in American History” (the dedication address at Portage High School), as well as “The Frontier in American History,” and many others. Robert M. La Follette's “Iago” is also included.
