The term "rhetorical presidency" was introduced by political scientists James Ceaser, Glen E. Thurow, Jeffrey Tulis, and Joseph Bessette in 1981. Tulis wrote the foundational book on the subject entitled The Rhetorical Presidency, in 1987. Tulis' book spurred engaged debate on the history and evolution of presidential rhetoric by many professors and professionals, with Tulis himself later revising positions taken, in his book "The Rhetorical Presidency in Retrospect." released in 2007.
