Henry W. Sams served on the editorial boards of "College English," "College Composition and Communication," and the "Journal of General Education." He was able to influence the kinds of articles on composition and rhetoric being published throughout this period, and he and his colleagues increased broad awareness of rhetorical study. The present study utilizes articles from "JGE: The Journal of General Education," as well as committee minutes and personal letters from the University of Chicago archives. By comparing the journal articles of the period between 1947 and 1965 to committee minutes and personal letters, one can see how publishing articles in the "Journal of General Education" allowed the faculty at the University of Chicago to implement change without it actually having to occur in the department, circumventing the official procedures for reform. This method, however, had the important side effect of stimulating the field of composition and creating fruitful pressures on the discipline itself for a return to rhetoric. (Contains 6 notes.)