TECHNICAL DISCOURSE IN DEFENSE OF PUBLIC VIRTUE - REAGAN,RONALD EXPLANATION OF THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR

Contemporary political communication is marked by an evolving dialecti cal tension between public and technical forms of discourse. Using Ron ald Reagan's explanation of the Iran/Contra arms-for-hostages initiati ve as a case study, this article explores the rhetorical uses of techn ical rationality and the dangers these appeals pose for public deliber ation. A close reading of Reagan's March 4, 1987, Iran/Contra defense speech demonstrates that Reagan employed the Tower Commission Report's technical judgments to separate the ethical realm of the public from the nonethical realm of the technical. As a result, he was able to def ine the Iran/Contra affair as an instrumental problem of bureaucratic organization rather than a betrayal of the public trust. This strategy of demarcating the moral realms of agent from agency is conceptualize d as both a moral dodge and an instance of what Kenneth Burke calls ir onic discourse. The article concludes by contrasting Reagan's strategy with other recent political crises in which public servants did not s eparate their public virtue from their administrative responsibility.