Remembering Michael Leff

Surely I must have met Michael Leff at some point before the winter of 1983. I had read and learned much from his award-winning essays on Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union speech, of course. But I got to know him well only then, when he was a visiting professor at Northwestern for two quarters nearly 30 years ago.

The School of Speech at Northwestern had just received a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Van Zelst, an endowment establishing the Van Zelst Research Professorship in Communication. Each year a member of the faculty would be freed from teaching and administrative responsibilities to undertake a major research project. The endowment would fund the salary of a visiting professor whose teaching would include some of the responsibilities of the research professor and some enrichment of the curriculum; it also would support a public lecture by the visiting professor and its publication and distribution. The Van Zelst endowment would center on the Department of Communication Studies, of which I was then the chair.

A selection committee identified Leland M. Griffin as the first holder of the research professorship, for 1982–1983, and the department quickly focused on Michael Leff as our leading candidate for the visiting professorship. He could teach seminars in rhetorical theory and also enhance our menu in public address and rhetorical criticism. We were not disappointed. Mike brought both intellectual energy and camaraderie to our group and performed well in the classroom.

Mike was still interested in Lincoln and thought he might focus his Van Zelst Lecture on a Lincoln text. He selected the House Divided speech on its 125th anniversary. I was in the early stages of research on the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and we shared insights and questions about our respective projects. Mike did not yet call his approach "close reading," but that is what he demonstrated in his powerful analysis of Lincoln's speech. He resolved controversies about whether the different sections of the speech hung together, about why Lincoln would make the seemingly farfetched accusation that Stephen Douglas was part of a conspiracy to spread slavery, and about whether Lincoln was prudent in deciding to deliver the speech. His essay explores the internal movement within the text and especially the way in which Lincoln deploys his sense of time. The analysis is a marked advance beyond what had then been the standard treatment of the text, an essay by the historian Don Fehrenbacher published in the early 1960s. Leff's lecture is to my knowledge the only one of the more than 25 Van Zelst Lectures to be widely cited. Unfortunately, it has become hard to obtain. It was published by Northwestern in pamphlet form, and the supply has long since been exhausted. Happily, it is likely to be reprinted in a collection that currently is being developed.

In addition to teaching his courses and preparing and delivering the lecture, Mike became immersed in the departmental culture. He attended events, had lunch with different colleagues, and "schmoozed" with others in the house that the rhetoric faculty called home. I decided, therefore, that we ought to take advantage of his visit by obtaining some free consulting about the department's operations and goals. Mike obliged my request, attending a faculty meeting near the end of the year to share his reflections. I don't remember many of the specifics, although I remember thinking that Mike was quite perceptive and on the mark. But I do remember one thing he said because it struck home: he told my colleagues that they were relying too heavily on the chair and not taking enough collective responsibility for departmental governance. Delegating tasks to others has never been one of my strengths, and Mike was pointing out how the department as a whole was hurt.

Unbeknownst either to Mike or to my colleagues, I was at the same time engaged in conversations with Dean Roy Wood that soon led to my appointment to a reorganized position as Associate Dean with primary responsibilities for academic affairs. For several months I had to reply to the accusation that I was...