Now you’re making it up, brother: Paul Robeson, HUAC, and the challenge of institutional narrative authority

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the mid 1950s, the House Committee on Un-American Activities was a rhetorical colossus. Within the closed doors of a hearing, committee members displayed a rhetorical mastery of procedural, topical, and logical moves that left even the best-prepared witnesses sputtering. HUAC used institutional narrative authority as a major rhetorical resource. This strategy rhetorically produced a narrative “reality” conducive to achieving institutional goals. Having established the “official” version of events, the committee situated further argumentation within a value hierarchy that placed national security above “secondary” values that witnesses attempted to invoke in their defenses. A notable exception to the committee's rhetorical dominance came in the 1956 testimony of Paul Robeson, an African American singer and activist who had been called before the committee to answer for pro-Soviet statements he made while traveling abroad. Using a number of rhetorical tactics to disrupt the institutional narrative, Robeson was able to recontextualize his comments within an interpretive framework of racial justice in America – a debate the committee was less prepared to handle. This article contributes to ongoing studies of institutional rhetoric, especially rhetorical argumentation that takes place within institutional settings.