A Society of Brotherhood: Rhetoric for Resistance Jordan Allums | Furman University One of the many protest movements that occurred in the United States during the 1960s was the Anti- War Movement. It was led by people such as former Stanford Student Body President David Harris, who objected to the Vietnam War and specifically the draft. Throughout his time in the Anti-War Movement, Harris formed The Resistance, an anti-draft organization; planned mass protests; and spoke in favor of civil disobedience. This study takes a rhetorical approach in examining David Harris’s call to action in a speech he delivered at the University of California, Berkeley on November 9, 1968. In his speech, Harris employs constitutive rhetoric to create a base on which to make his public moral argument for draft resistance centered on the rehumanization of the Vietnamese people. On November 9, 1968, David Harris stood the point of view of one of the leaders of the in front of a group of students in Wheeler Anti-War Movement. Because Harris was Hall at the University of California, Berkeley well known, his actions were publicized, and encouraged them to become criminals. unlike the actions of most resisters, which The Resistance group on Berkeley’s campus only gained significance when grouped with invited Harris, his wife Joan Baez, and Ira other protesters’ actions (Ferber and Lynd Sandperl, director of the Institute for the 87). Harris’s speech at Berkeley was repre- Study of Nonviolence, to speak. In his sentative of the speeches that he gave speech, Harris suggested that draft resis- throughout the country from 1968 to 1969 tance was necessary because it was better to (Harris, Dreams 224, 234). When Harris, be a criminal than to follow an unjust law Baez, and Sandperl spoke on May 24, 1968, (“Is Draft”). The purpose of my paper will be six months after their appearance at to examine how David Harris uses constitu- Berkeley, their speeches contained much of tive rhetoric, public moral argument, and the same content as the speeches given at rehumanization in his speech “Is Draft Berkeley. Harris’s speech at Berkeley, Resistance the Answer?” to imagine the for- though, was a better representation of his mation of a society founded on brotherhood draft resistance speeches than the one he instead of oppression. gave in May because the purpose of the Scholars have yet to study the rhetoric of speeches given in May was not just to talk Harris’s speech at Berkeley. Though some about resistance but also to ask for dona- scholars claim that Harris had little effect tions (“David Harris”). In my examination on the Anti-War Movement because he of “Is Draft Resistance the Answer?” I will began speaking after the movement was in analyze the tactics Harris uses to persuade full force (Manuto), Harris’s speech deserves his audience. With this paper, I intend to to be studied because it provides an in-depth add to the literature on anti-war rhetoric look into the rationales for resistance from and specifically the scholarship on Harris. Allums | 125 The Face of Resistance University, having only agreed to run for The United States first implemented military that post because he thought he had no conscription during the Civil War and sub- chance of being elected by the supposedly sequently used it in both World War I and conservative student body (Harris, Dreams World War II (“Draft”). In 1965, President 135). Regardless of original intention, Lyndon Baines Johnson decided to supple- Harris was elected. However, on February ment the volunteer military forces in 22, 1967, he resigned as student body presi- Vietnam by reinstating the draft (“Selective,” dent, believing that he had accomplished all Encyclopedia). That same year, nineteen year- that he could in that role (Dreams 175). old David Harris demonstrated against the Beginning the summer before his presi- Vietnam War for the first time at a march at dency, Harris lived in a house in East Palo the University of California, Berkeley Alto referred to as “the commune” (Ferber (Harris, War 47-48). and Lynd 81). While there, he adopted com- Men who opposed the Vietnam draft, pletely non-violent beliefs (Ferber and Lynd such as Harris, could be placed into one of 85). Just before resigning as student body three categories: conscientious objectors, president to focus on the Anti-War draft evaders, and draft resisters. To be con- Movement, Harris founded the Resistance, sidered a conscientious objector, one had to an anti-draft organization, with Dennis oppose the war but still cooperate with the Sweeney, Lennie Heller, and Steve Hamilton government by seeking legal recognition of (Hall). He announced the existence of the his status (Elmer) as one of “those whose Resistance on April 15, 1967 by handing out consciences, spurred by deeply held moral, leaflets that read, “We of the Resistance feel ethical, or religious beliefs, would give them that we can no longer passively acquiesce to no rest or peace if they allowed themselves the Selective Service System by accepting its to become a part of an instrument of war” deferments” (Ferber and Lynd 90). After (Welsh par. 2). If a man who opposed the leaving Stanford in 1967, Harris traveled war was not considered a conscientious along the Pacific Coast, speaking at least a objector, he was considered either a draft thousand times in both auditoriums and evader or a draft resister. Both evaders and street corners alike. Since a call to disobedi- resisters refused to be enlisted into the ence resulted in a maximum of five years in army; the former did so privately, often by prison under the Selective Service Act, means of neglecting to register for the draft Harris estimates that he accumulated at or leaving the country to escape it, while least five thousand years worth of prison the latter did so publicly to make a state- time for his speeches urging young men to ment and therefore willingly accepted the join him in resisting the draft (War 12). consequences of their actions (Elmer). One of Harris’s problems with the Selective David Harris fell in the category of draft Service System was that because it granted resister. He declared his refusal to partici- exemptions and deferments to those with pate in the draft in August of 1966 (Hall) educational commitments, those in the by sending a letter to the local draft board clergy, and those with medical restrictions in Fresno that contained his draft cards (“Selective,” International 392), Vietnam (Harris, War 49). At the time, Harris was became a war fought by the poor who did not the student body president at Stanford have the means to defer (Harris, War 27-28). 126 | Young Scholars in Writing Allums | 127 The Selective Service System granted local United States from Vietnam in the spring of draft boards control over deferments, which 1966 (Pacifica). Berkeley’s involvement with sometimes led to discrimination and favorit- the Anti-War Movement made it an ideal ism (“Selective,” Encyclopedia). Critics, platform for Harris to present his ideas about including Harris, noticed that large numbers draft resistance. of minorities were being drafted and concluded that the draft was unfair to those Rhetoric for Resistance with low economic status (“Selective,” My analysis of Harris's Berkeley speech on International 392). As a result, Harris declined November 9, 19681, will reveal the ways in his student deferment because he believed “if which Harris uses language to persuade his Americans fought wars… either everybody audience to resist. Throughout the speech, should be obliged to fight them or nobody Harris builds up both his character, to make should” (War 28). He began to organize himself seem trustworthy and knowledge- opposition to the Selective Service System, able, and the character of the audience, and on October 16, 1967, over two thousand creating a community between himself and men protested the draft by returning their the audience. Because of the relationship he cards. As a result of refusing draft induction, has formed with the audience, he is able to Harris was placed in a federal prison for close address the concept of morality. He invokes to two years before eventually gaining parole a public moral argument against the in 1971 (Hall). Vietnam War and, specifically, the Selective During his involvement in the Anti-War Service System. Harris gains support against Movement, Harris married singer and fellow the war by reminding the audience of the activist Joan Baez. Because of their mutual humanity of the enemy. He establishes cred- belief in resistance, the two announced a ibility, suggests responsibility, and exposes speaking tour of college campuses with Ira the horrors of the Vietnam War and the Sandperl, the co-director of the Institute for Selective Service System by employing con- the Study of Nonviolence. Between January stitutive rhetoric, public moral argument, of 1968 and July of 1969, Harris gave over and rehumanization. 500 speeches in 20 states (Harris, Dreams 224, 233, 234). Constitutive Rhetoric Harris delivered one of these speeches at the James Boyd White defines constitutive rheto- University of California, Berkeley, sponsored ric as “the ways in which character and by Campus Resistance (“Is Draft”). Berkeley community—and motive, value, reason, social had a history of political involvement and structure, everything, in short, that makes a continued this involvement during the Anti- culture—are defined and made real in perfor- War Movement. This is evidenced by the mances of language” (xi). Each time a person formation of the Vietnam Day Committee in speaks he creates a character for himself, and the spring of 1965 and a university-wide refer- through his words conveys his attitude toward endum for the immediate withdrawal of the the world around him (White 15).