Interesting analsysis. Going back to Nixon and before, Presidents spoke in a somewhat higher mode of articulation. Printing out their respective speeches and subjecting them to a complexity analysis would likely show a higher reading or literacy level of the texts working backward.
It's probably lost in the noise of political commentary and history, but pre-Watergate Nixon was one of our most popular Presidents.
!PIMP !PIZAA
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Absolutely. Lincoln's inaugural speech had phrases that have gone down in history for their eloquence. He wrote his own speeches.
As for Nixon's popularity. It's a complex issue. He was commonly called 'Tricky Dick' by non-fans. He did not have a reputation for integrity before his election, among some. His famous 'Checkers' speech deflected from the appearance of financial impropriety early on, and his association with McCarthyism tarnished his reputation for many voters.
Here's a graph that shows the swings in popularity during his presidency. I never trusted him, but my husband was in Vietnam when Nixon was up for reelection. My husband believed Nixon when he said he had a plan for peace. So Nixon got his vote. That might have been true for a lot of people. Of course, Nixon did not have a plan.
Thanks for your interesting feedback :)
You are welcome, I sincerely enjoy reading this type of content. We (collectively) have become scurrisome people, and have lost historical context and abandonded deeper analysis, in the era of social media. It feels that most political discussion is just reactionary cheerleading or derogation with no substance underlying it.
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