Download or read book American Exceptionalism and Its Malleability written by Jessica Chapman and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This honors thesis aimed to look at the changeability of American Exceptionalism over time by examining presidential rhetoric in in State of the Union Addresses from 1965 to 2016. This thesis asked the questions, does American Exceptionalism rhetoric decrease during times of failed military intervention, do Republican presidents use more American Exceptionalism rhetoric than Democratic presidents, and is presidential rhetoric of American Exceptionalism increase during times of war compared to times of peace. State of the Union Addresses were coded by groups (i.e. times of failed military intervention and times in the absence of failed military intervention, for the first research question.) and group means were compared using independent samples t-tests. For the qualitative analysis the Constant Comparative method was used to code the statements into three categories: uniqueness, superiority (social identity theory), and miscellaneous. This research found that Republican presidents use American Exceptionalism rhetoric more often than Democratic presidents and that intensity of American Exceptionalism increases over time (from 1965-2016). Further research is needed to develop more coherent conclusions on the finding of a detected increase in intensity over time