Contact Information
702 S Wright Street
Urbana IL 61801
Research Areas
Research Interests
Rhetoric of the US presidency and contemporary politics; presidential war rhetoric and campaign speeches.
Research Description
John Murphy studies the history of American Public Address and political rhetoric. He is the author of John F. Kennedy and the Liberal Persuasion, a critique of President Kennedy's greatest speeches and the liberal tradition. He studies the evolution of political languages. He's written on John and Robert Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Martin Luther King. Jr., George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. His scholarly work has appeared in journals such as Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Quarterly Journal of Speech, and American Literary History. His commentary on the presidency and presidential rhetoric regularly appears in popular media outlets such as The Conversation USA, Washington Post, New York Times, and USA Today. He is currently working on a book project concerning the civil rights rhetoric of James Baldwin, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Education
Ph.D., University of Kansas
Courses Taught
CMN 321: Strategies of Persuasion
CMN 396: Rhetoric and the Presidency
CMN 423: Rhetorical Criticism
CMN 538: Graduate Seminar in Rhetoric
External Links
Honors & Awards
2015 Campus Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award
2015 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award
2004 National Communication Assocation Golden Monograph Award
Recent Publications
Murphy, J. M. (2022). Melodrama, William Barr, and the imperial presidency. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 108(1), 75-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2021.2019302
Murphy, J. M., & Lechuga, M. (2021). The role of the critic. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 24(1-2), 51-67. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.24.1-2.0051
MURPHY, JOHN. M. (2020). The sunshine of human rights: Hubert humphrey at the 1948 democratic convention. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 23(1), 77-106. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.23.1.0077
Murphy, J. M. (2019). John F. Kennedy and the Liberal Persuasion. (Rhetoric & Public Affairs). Michigan State University Press. https://doi.org/10.14321/j.ctv75d841
Murphy, J. M. (2018). In Pursuit of Peace: John F. Kennedy, June 1963. In M. J. Medhurst (Ed.), World War II and the Cold War: The Rhetoric of Hearts and Minds (pp. 365-414). (Rhetorical History of the United States; Vol. 8). Michigan State University Press. https://doi.org/10.14321/j.ctv3znw4b.13