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Contents
Background and Overview: Who Was Harvey Milk?
Setting America up for an Inclusive Future through Deliberative Oratory and Identification: 1973
A New Appearance and Response to his Audience's Concerns with Ethos: 1975
Responding to New Political Enemies with the Theme of Hope: 1977
Milk's Rhetorical Legacy: "This is to be played only in the event of my death by assassination"
Introduction
If San Francisco was the capital of Gay America, Harvey Milk was the president.
– Jason Edward Black and Charles E. Morris, Introduction to An Archive of Hope.
The so-called “president” of Gay America, a man named Harvey Milk, certainly did leave his mark on the world and has become recognized as one of the most distinguished gay rights figures of his time. Entering the public arena with no political background, he campaigned three times for San Francisco City Supervisor and became victorious on his third attempt in 1977. Needing to prove to the world that a gay man was capable of holding a position in politics, Milk did so through rhetoric.
Throughout campaigning for Supervisor in 1973, 1975, and 1977, Milk’s understanding and adaptation of his use of rhetoric proved he was a notable public speaker and politician. Milk understood what it took to be a part of the public sphere by undergoing rhetorical changes to appeal to his audience such as his delivery, use of ethos and pathos, identification strategies, and altering his own appearance to appeal to a wide audience.
In addition to adapting his own rhetorical strategies, the gay historical movement occurring around Milk entered him into a wider rhetorical conversation, especially with his political “enemies” Anita Bryant, an Oklahoma native, beauty queen, singer, and Christian, used her platform to make herself known as an anti-gay rights activist; and sponsor of anti-gay rights legislation California Senator John Briggs. During the time span of his three campaigns, Milk watched homosexuals no longer being disbarred from government positions; homosexuality no longer being tied to mental illness or pedophilia; states becoming free of criminalized sexuality; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) folx across the nation coming out of the closet; and the establishment of gay rights occurring nationwide, which inspired his rhetorical stance.
After learning about Milk through Sean Penn’s 2008 biopic, I wanted to analyze how both his rhetoric, and the ever-changing world around him, contributed to his triumph. So, I asked myself the following: Over the course of three elections, what are the ways in which Harvey Milk’s rhetoric evolved in response to the changing cultural and historical movement around him?
In this paper, I begin with an overview of Milk’s life and career so readers will have a basic understanding of who he was and what he accomplished. Next, I examine his three campaigns in order to map the ways his rhetoric shifted over time in response to the changing cultural and historical environment. In my concluding section, I examine Milk’s political “will” to try to understand how he used rhetoric to shape his legacy after his passing.