The Complicity of the Ghostwriter: Robert T. Oliver, Syngman Rhee, and the Rhetoric of a Dictator

Abstract

Between 1942 and 1960, Robert T. Oliver, professor of speech at Pennsylvania State University, served as a ghostwriter and advisor for the first president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee. Celebrated as the founder of South Korea and condemned for human rights abuses and an irrepressible desire to wage war on North Korea, Rhee remains a controversial historical figure. In this essay, we use Lepora and Goodin’s theory of complicity to assess Oliver’s responsibility for the creation and effects of Rhee’s rhetoric.

Notes

¹ We thank RR reviewers Andrew King and David Kaufer for their constructive reviews. This research is sponsored by the Korean Research Foundation (NRF 2011-A00006) and funded by a Hankuk University of Foreign Studies research grant.

² In 1953, the college was renamed “The Pennsylvania State University.”

³ There are relatively few documents in the archive. See https://www.libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/1086.htm

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David A. Frank

David A. Frank is Professor of Rhetoric at Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon. Professor Frank and Professor Park are embarked on a long-term project, sponsored by the Korea Research Foundation titled “Ghostwriting Korea,” which centers on the relationship between Robert T. Oliver and Syngman Rhee. Professor Frank has written extensively on Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca’s New Rhetoric, the rhetoric of Barack Obama, and rhetorical and argumentation theory. He may be reached at [email protected].

WooSoo Park

WooSoo Park is Professor and Director of the Center for British and American Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Professor Park teaches Shakespeare and English Renaissance Drama. He was the former president of the Rhetoric Society of Korea, and is currently Vice President of the English Language and Literature Association of Korea, and the associate editor of the journal for that society. He has translated into Korean the major tragedies and comedies of Shakespeare. He may be reached at [email protected].