Maj. Brandon Johnson joined the Virginia Military Institute after completing his Ph.D. in Communication Arts and Sciences at Penn State University. In his scholarship, he studies presidential rhetoric, U.S. politics, and the history of the presidency. His essay on Herbert Hoover’s rhetoric of “rugged individualism,” which won the 2023 Kenneth Burke Prize in Rhetoric at Penn State, was published in Rhetoric & Public Affairs; his work also appeared in the interdisciplinary journal Politics. He teaches classes on the history and practice of rhetoric, public speaking, and writing, including ERH 101 and 102: Writing and Rhetoric I and II, ERH 103: Fundamentals of Public Speaking, ERH 201 and 202: Foundations of Rhetorical Traditions I and II, and ERH 301: Rhetoric and Public Address. He is an active member of the Rhetoric Society of America, National Communication Association, and the American Society for the History of Rhetoric.
Maj. Brandon Johnson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
Office: 428 Scott Shipp Hall
Phone: 540-464-7490
Email: johnsonbm@vmi.edu
Fields: Presidential Rhetoric, Public Address, Public Speaking, Memory Studies, Rhetorical Criticism
Maj. Brandon Johnson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
Office: 428 Scott Shipp Hall
Phone: 540-464-7490
Email: johnsonbm@vmi.edu
Fields: Presidential Rhetoric, Public Address, Public Speaking, Memory Studies, Rhetorical Criticism
Publications
Selected Publications
Johnson, Brandon M. “Rugged Individualism Revisited: Herbert Hoover’s Adaptation of Individualism in the 1928 Election.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 26, no. 2 (2023): 65-95.
Selected Presentations
Johnson, Brandon M. “‘Saved by God’: The Rhetoric of Manifest Destiny in Trump’s Second Inaugural Address.” Rhetoric Society of America, May 2026, Portland, OR.
Johnson, Brandon M. “Carter’s Coalition: Race, Ambiguity, and Strategic Character in Jimmy Carter’s Political Rhetoric.” American Society for the History of Rhetoric Symposium, May 2024, Denver, CO.
Johnson, Brandon M. “The (Dis)Union Forever: Andrew Johnson, Reconciliation, and The Limits of Unity Rhetoric.” National Communication Association Conference, November 2023, National Harbor, MD.