Examining the Invocation of Lincoln in Republican and Democratic Presidential Speeches

• In Event: The US Presidency and Executive Power I

Abstract

Lincoln’s position as the Republican president who “saved the union and emancipated millions” afforded the Republican party claim over Lincoln’s legacy. The Republican Party became synonymously known and recognized as the party of Lincoln even though the Republican Party of Lincoln’s time is a stark departure from the Republican Party we know today. The Republican Party has historically exercised their claim to Lincoln’s legacy by invoking Lincoln and embracing their brand as the party of Lincoln. In this study, I draw upon more than 100 presidential and presidential candidate speeches from the American Presidency Project Database to explore the question of whether the Republican Party has since made concerted efforts in the last decade to distance themselves from Lincoln’s image and legacy or whether they have continued to embrace their attachment to Lincoln. Moreover, I seek to compare invocations of Lincoln by the Republican and Democratic Parties in terms of frequency and the context of the Lincoln invocation in order to eliminate the possibility that the Republican Party does not have a unique relationship to Lincoln and the claiming of his legacy. Specifically, I will be examining three types of speeches—State of the Union Addresses, Inaugural Addresses, and National Convention speeches—given between the 1960 election cycle and the 2024 election cycle. I use both a conceptual and relational content analysis approach to paint a fuller picture of the Lincoln invocation trends amongst both Republican and Democratic presidents and presidential candidates.

Author

• Reyna Cabrera Lucero, University of California, Irvine