The controversy over President Reagan's visit to Bitburg: Strategies of definition and redefinition

Abstract

The controversy surrounding President Reagan's plan to visit the German war cemetery at Bitburg provides an opportunity to examine transformation and transcendence as rhetorical strategies of definition and redefinition. Reagan repeatedly sought to redefine the meaning of the unfolding situation and his own actions, but was largely unsuccessful particularly with his Jewish opposition, because he proceeded from a scientistic perspective while his opponents embraced a dramatistic perspective. The clash between the two perspectives and the resulting unacceptability of Reagan's redefinitions are apparent on three dimensions: time, space, and judgment.

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