Abstract

AbstractMayor Hubert Humphrey’s “Sunshine of Human Rights” address, delivered to the 1948 Democratic Convention, is universally acknowledged to be a great speech. Historians and biographers credit it as the major reason why the party adopted a strong civil rights plank and committed itself to the struggle from that point forward. Yet rhetorical critics have generally ignored the speech. In this essay, I argue the rhetorical force of the address is best explained through the concept of copia, or an abundant style. Humphrey’s rhetorical extravagance, in turn, suggests that critics ought to develop a new appreciation for this ancient rhetorical concept.

Journal
Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Published
2020-03-01
DOI
10.14321/rhetpublaffa.23.1.0077
Open Access
Closed
Topics

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  1. 7. Solberg, Hubert Humphrey, 459. See also Philip K. Tompkins, "Hubert Horatio Humphrey on Persuasion," Today…
  2. and L. Patrick Devlin, "Hubert H. Humphrey: The Teacher-Preacher," Central States Speech Journal 21 (1970): 9…
  3. 10. The relationship between text and theory described here is defıned nicely as “abduction” in: James Jasins…
  4. 14. Zachary Karabell, The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election (New York: Vintage Books, 200…
  5. Harvard Sitkoff, "Harry Truman and the Election of 1948: The Coming of Age of American Politics," Journal of …
  6. 65. Philip Sipiora, “Introduction: The Ancient Concept of Kairos,” in Rhetoric and Kairos: Essays in History,…
  7. 68. Michael Osborn, “Archetypal Metaphor in Rhetoric: The Light-Dark Family,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 53 …
  8. 74. Michael Leff and Andrew Sachs, “Words the Most Like Things: Iconicity and the Rhetorical Text,” Western J…
  9. 75. For example, see Murphy’s discussion of amplifıcation in John M. Murphy, “The Primary Colors of Political…
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