ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE CARNIVAL OF THE COURTROOM: PUBLIC MORAL ARGUMENT, ANTI-WAR PROTEST, AND THE CHICAGO EIGHT TRIAL Abbe S. Depretis Doctor of Philosophy, 2017 Dissertation Directed by: Professor Robert N. Gaines Department of Communication In this project, I examined rhetorical activities of the 1969–1970 Chicago Eight Trial, focusing on discourse from the trial itself (e.g., from the eight defendants, the judge, the lawyers, and the court reports) and discourse occurring outside the trial (e.g., newspaper reports) from 1968 to the present. Because the Chicago Eight Trial played an important role in the discussion of the Vietnam War and the antiwar movement, I sought to interrogate the rhetorical dimensions of the discourse within the trial, in the media coverage of the trial, and among the participants during the trial. This case was situated within the context of antiwar protests in the United States as well as the transformative context of the 1960s, specifically contestations about the Cold War, civil rights, political assassinations, and the military draft. Overall, this project was intended to deepen understanding of how public moral argument, Baktinian carnival, and guerrilla theater functioned in discourses of the Chicago Eight Trial, whose defendants aimed to challenge the dominant sociopolitical culture over the U.S. war in Vietnam. In addition, the Chicago Eight Trial was a prime example of the ways that public moral arguments can be used to disseminate messages about the political, ethical, and social conditions in the United States. Finally, in this project, I sought to understand how the rhetoric involving the Chicago Eight Trial was framed by the defendants and by the media. The project contributes to literature about framing, protest movements, and social change. THE CARNIVAL OF THE COURTROOM: PUBLIC MORAL ARGUMENT, ANTIWAR PROTEST, AND THE CHICAGO EIGHT TRIAL by Abbe S. Depretis Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 Advisory Committee: Chair, Professor Robert N. Gaines, Chair Professor James F. Klumpp Professor Wayne McIntosh Professor Trevor Parry-Giles Assistant Professor Michelle Murray Yang © Copyright by Abbe S. Depretis 2017 Dedication To my family ii Acknowledgments I was fortunate enough to have the support of so many friends, colleagues, students, mentors, and family who supported me during the long road to completing this project. First I would like to thank all of the faculty and staff in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland. Particularly I’d like to thank those who served on my committee throughout my M.A. and Ph.D. career there: Robert N. Gaines, Trevor Parry-Giles, James Klumpp, Michelle Murray Yang, Wayne McIntosh, Mary Borr Tonn, and Shawn Parry-Giles. I also want to express my gratitude to my friends and colleagues at UMD whose ideas and friendships were inspiring: Tim Barney, Erica Lamm, Sanja Sipek, Ben Krueger, Alyssa Samek, Ioana Cionea, Heather Brook Adams, Stephen Underhill, Jill Underhill, Tom Geary, Art Herbig, Jade Olson, Elena Banas, Sean Luechtefeld, Artesha Taylor, Abbey Blake Levenshus, Hongmei Shen, Sejal Patel, Lucinda Austin, Katie Place, Christine Skubisz, Heather Davis, Hua Jiang, Bill Lawson, Terri Donofrio, Janna Whitney Moss, Robin Scholz, Jennifer Vardeman, Tiffany Lewis, M. Karen Walker, James Gilmore, Jason Black, , Natalie Tindall, Bjørn Stillion-Southard, Belinda Stillion-Southard, and Lisa Corrigan. I’d also like to thank my family and friends who feel like family. I could not have completed this project without their encouragement and support. To my Mom Anita and Dad Mark, my sister Rebecca, my brother Sam, my Nana, all of my Aunts and Uncles and Cousins, thank you for providing such a strong support system. To my Gram, Pap, and Papa who didn’t get to see me finish, your guidance and memory helped me tremendously. Thank you to my friends who often supported and forced me to write when I just couldn’t work anymore: Jessica Brunazzi McDermott, Becky DiVerniero, iii Kristen Ortolona, Nikki Dysart, Alice Veksler, Jaime Harris, Kathy Byars, Danielle Stern, Maria Butch, David Seitz, and Heather LaMarre. Finally I must offer my sincerest appreciation to Dr. Robert N. Gaines, my advisor and mentor, who took a chance on me, inspired me, believed in me, and without whose patience and support I could have never achieved my dream. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. iv Table of Contents Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………ii Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………..iii Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………….v Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Public Moral Argument, Carnival, the Morality Play, and Media Framing ................... 3 Précis of Chapters ........................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Antiwar Protest in United States History ........................................................ 21 The Revolutionary War ................................................................................................. 23 The War of 1812 ........................................................................................................... 30 The Mexican-American War ........................................................................................ 34 The Civil War ............................................................................................................... 41 War with Spain and its (Former) Colonies ................................................................... 42 World War I .................................................................................................................. 50 World War II ................................................................................................................. 59 The Korean War ............................................................................................................ 64 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 2: The Vietnam Antiwar Movement, the Democratic National Convention, and the Chicago Eight Trial ..................................................................................................... 91 The Start of U.S. Involvement in Vietnam ................................................................... 91 The Beginning of a Movement ..................................................................................... 96 The New Left ................................................................................................................ 98 Religious, Legal, and Political Dissenters .................................................................. 102 The 1968 Democratic National Convention and its Aftermath .................................. 108 The Chicago Eight Trial .............................................................................................. 114 Chapter 3: Public Moral Argument and the Carnival in the Courtroom ......................... 131 The Carnival: Ritual Spectacle, Comic Verbal Compositions, and Billingsgate ....... 133 The Defendants and the Carnival in the Courtroom ................................................... 137 Constructing the Ritual Spectacle ........................................................................... 138 The Comics of the Courtroom ................................................................................ 141 Abusive Language and Billingsgate ....................................................................... 144 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 146 Chapter 4: Bobby Seale and the Containment of the Black Voice ................................. 154 Intersection of the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement ................................... 155 Seale and the Chicago Eight Trial .............................................................................. 161 Seale’s Public Moral Argument through Guerrilla Theater ........................................ 164 Seale as Defendant .................................................................................................. 165 Seale as Witness ...................................................................................................... 169 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 173 Chapter 5: Framing of the Trial and its Defendants ....................................................... 175 Framing ....................................................................................................................... 177 Collective Action Frames ....................................................................................... 180 Story Framing ......................................................................................................... 181 v The Defendants’ Public Moral Argument and Collective Action Framing ................ 188 Mainstream Media Frames ......................................................................................... 191 Seale’s Body, Containment, and Visual Politics .......................................................