2. How can an editorial cartoon be evaluated? A good editorial cartoon combines a clear drawing and good writing. A good editorial cartoon expresses a recognizable point-of-view or opinion. In the best instances, the cartoon cannot be read or understood by only looking at the words or only looking at the picture. Both the words and the pictures must be read together in order to understand the cartoonist’s message. Not all editorial cartoons are meant to be funny. Some of the most effective editorial cartoons are not humorous at all. Humor is only one tool available to editorial cartoonists. http://hti.osu.edu/opper/editorial-cartoons
3. What tools does the editorial cartoonist use to communicate ideas and opinions with readers? Caricatures are drawings of public figures in which certain physical features are exaggerated. Caricatures of Richard M. Nixon often show him as needing to shave. Stereotypes are formulaic images used to represent particular groups. A stereotypical cartoon mother might have messy hair, wear an apron, and hold a screaming baby in her arms. Symbols are pictures that represent something else by tradition. A dove is a symbol for peace. Analogies are comparisons that suggest that one thing is similar to something else. The title of a popular song or film might be used by a cartoonist to comment on a current political event. Humor is the power to evoke laughter or to express what is amusing, comical or absurd. http://hti.osu.edu/opper/editorial-cartoons
4. Title: Family Tree Publication Date: 1998 Credit: "Reprinted by permission of V. C. Rogers"
5. The beginning of editorial cartoons Luther in 1533 by Lucas Cranach
6. The beginning of editorial cartoons Began with the Protestant Reformation in Germany Early 16th century Martin Luther Used Visual Propaganda Convince the illiterate “masses” of his point of view The pope portrayed as the Whore of Babylon. Lucas Cranach
7. Passion of Christ and Anti-Christ Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. The Pope makes others kiss his feet.
8. Passion of Christ and Anti-Christ A crown of thorns is prepared for Christ. The pope wears three crowns of gold.
9. Political Cartoons in America By Benjamin Franklin first published in the Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754 Snake whose severed parts represent the Colonies Franklin used it in support of his plan for an intercolonial association to deal with Iroquois at the Albany Congress in 1754 Popular superstition that a dead snake would come back to life if the pieces were placed next to each other
10. The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions 1804 James Akin James Akin's earliest-known signed cartoon, "The Prairie Dog" is an anti-Jefferson satire, relating to Jefferson's covert negotiations for the purchase of West Florida from Spain in 1804. Jefferson, as a scrawny dog, is stung by a hornet with Napoleon's head into coughing up "Two Millions" in gold coins, (the secret appropriation Jefferson sought from Congress for the purchase). On the right dances a man (possibly a French diplomat) with orders from French minister Talleyrand in his pocket and maps of East Florida and West Florida in his hand. He says, "A gull for the People."
11. Congressional scales. A true balance1850N. Currier (Firm) : A satire on President Zachary Taylor's attempts to balance Southern and Northern interests on the question of slavery in 1850. Taylor stands atop a pair of scales, with a weight in each hand; the weight on the left reads "Wilmot Proviso" and the one on the right "Southern Rights." Below, the scales are evenly balanced, with several members of Congress.
12. Thomas Nast & “Boss” Tweed “This confrontation is credited by consensus with establishing once and forever a fledgling craft. . . as an enduring presence in American political culture. In its telling is exemplified those salient themes dear to the collective scholarship of the medium, such as it is-- the power of the giants of the genre to fuse creative caricature, clever situational transpositions, and honest indignation to arouse the populace and alter for the better the course of human events.” -Roger A. Fischer, Them Damned Pictures: Explorations in American Cartoon Art "The Brains," Harper's Weekly p.992 October 12, 1871
14. The Third-Term Panic1874Thomas Nast Nast was the first to introduce the Elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party and the donkey as that of the Democrats.
15. In danger1881Joseph Keppler Cartoon showing snake, representing monopolies involving senators, with tail wrapped around dome of the U.S. Capitol, facing personification of "Liberty", and "Puck" asking Uncle Sam, "What are you going to do about it?"
16. Our Indian Policy1875Joseph Keppler Caricature of alleged frauds in Indian supplies from peace commissioners showing man offering Indians torn blankets, empty rifle case, and spoiled beef, as (Grant Pierce?) Marsh witnesses from over fence and resolves to report the scene.
17. The Opening of the Congressional Session1887Joseph Keppler Cartoon showing monster, "tariff question", in large bag "surplus", saying "Here I am Again! What are you going to do with me?," in House chambers.
18. Germany Under All1915 This is another cartoon that parodies a national anthem. In this case it is the old German imperial anthem Deutschland UberAlles, literally translated as Germany Over All.
19. The treat mill~1913C.R. Macauley Cartoon marked New York World shows children turning a wheel labeled "Profits on child labor."
20. The road to dividends1913TAD Cartoon shows poor child carrying a heavy load followed by wealthy industrialists with mills in the background.
21. John Bull uses the American Flag for Protection1915 This cartoon refers to the practice taken up by the British of flying a neutral flag (especially American) when in the declared war zone. The artist chose to depict one of the most well known British merchant ships, the Lusitania, to represent the entire merchant navy. Ironically, the Lusitania would end up being torpedoed two months later. After the war it was divulged that the Lusitania was carrying an extensive shipment of munitions in the hold.
22. The Zimmerman Telegram1917 The British leaked the Zimmerman telegram (a dramatic German scheme to get Mexico to invade Texas and New Mexico) to the American press to pressure America to enter the war. America had been involved in the Mexican revolution since 1911, sending troops twice into Mexico. The prospect of German intervention in the Americas contravened America’s oft-stated commitment to the Monroe Doctrine and gave the Zimmerman telegram incendiary force among American popular opinion.
23. “Gettin’ Awful Crowded!”Clifford BerrymanJanuary 28, 1924 The Democratic race to challenge Republican President Calvin Coolidge in 1924 opened up when front-runner William McAdoo proved weaker than expected. This cartoon comments on the ever-growing field of potential candidates in the months leading up to the Democratic National Convention in New York City. Here Missouri Senator Jim Reed is the latest one to “throw his hat in the ring,” while the Democratic donkey worries about the crowded field. At the convention, former Ambassador John W. Davis received the nomination.
24. Well everything helps1930/1931Herbert Block As the Depression tightened its hold on American life, avid angler President Herbert Hoover cast about for ways to improve the economy. He sometimes took working vacations at his fishing camp on the Rapidan River (now in Shenandoah National Park) with members of Congress and his administration.
25. "This is the forest, primeval--”1929Herbert Block Concern for the depletion of our natural resources is not new. In his first daily cartoon, Herb Block deplored the clear-cutting of America's virgin forests and foreshadowed the economic wasteland to come in the next decade. The caption is the first line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline.
26. Gracias!1938Edmund Duffy Cartoon shows President Lázaro Cárdenas standing behind a large pile of oil drums (labeled "Mexican oil"), offering them for sale. In 1938, President Cárdenas nationalized the foreign oil companies. Many countries, including the United States and Great Britain, retaliated by boycotting Mexican oil, but the onset of World War II resulted in the abandonment of the boycotts and an agreement by Mexico to provide compensation.
27. The New Order1941Arthur Szyk Published within Szyk's first year of permanent residence in the United States, The New Order, contains selections of cartoons and caricatures originally published in the New York newspaper, PM. . The title page for this book bears the caricatures of Hermann Goering (center), Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (left), and Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan (right) that appeared in the pages of PM on Sunday, January 19, 1941.
28. Europe is getting hot! We've got to move to the western hemisphere1944Arthur Szyk Szyk portrays the Axis plot to dominate the world. Hitler sits at the head of the table (left), flanked by Joseph Goebels and Hermann Goering on his left, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco to his right, and Heinrich Himmler across.
29. Don’t vote for Roosevelt!!!1944Arthur Szyk In 1944, during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fourth and final presidential campaign, Szyk offered this derisive cartoon suggesting Axis leaders Hitler and Tojo would welcome a change in administration, hoping that FDR's successor might be less aggressive in prosecuting the war.
30. Churchill as an Octopus1935-1943Josef Plank Both the war against Nazi Germany and efforts to stop the Holocaust were hampered by anti-Semitism. Axis propaganda sought to portray Churchill, who was sympathetic to Zionist aims and had many Jewish friends, as part of a supposed Jewish conspiracy. Here, he is shown as an octopus fastening his tentacles on the globe.
31. Axis bombs severing F.D.R. & Churchill's "hands across the sea,”1935 and 1943Josef Plank This anti-Allied cartoon wishfully envisions the forcible destruction of the American-British alliance. Bombs fall from a cloud labeled with the symbols of the three major Axis powers—the rising sun of imperial Japan, the fasces (sticks bundled around an axe for strength) of Mussolini's Italy, and the swastika of Nazi Germany.
32. "TskTsk -- Somebody Should Do Something About That”1956 Herbert Block President Dwight Eisenhower was frequently accused of failure to provide leadership on domestic problems. Among Herb Block's criticisms of the administration was Eisenhower's lack of support for the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling for desegregation. Eisenhower said we all have opinions and lamented that "you can't change the hearts of men by laws." The leadership vacuum persisted long after the Court's ruling, which allowed time for the organization of White Citizens councils, of "massive resistance" and confrontations that continued beyond Eisenhower's term. In 1956, two years after the Court's ruling, Eisenhower's view on integration was that it should proceed more slowly.
33. Washington Money Machine1956/1965Art Wood Cartoon shows dollar bills flowing down into machine labeled "Washington" while only a penny emerges to drop into a surprised man's hands. Cartoon suggests that the average citizen receives little from the taxes and other monies paid to the federal government.
34. "Evtu?”1966 Herbert Block On May 24, 1966, Illinois Republican Everett Dirksen took the Senate floor to call for a "thorough discussion of the diplomatic, military and political situation in Vietnam." He attacked President Lyndon Johnson for lack of candor as military engagements increased and United States warplanes carried out a record number of air strikes on North Vietnam. The cartoon alludes William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, where Caesar says, "Et tu, Brute?" when stabbed by Brutus, and the title plays on Dirksen's first name, Everett.
35. National-security blanket1973Herbert Block On May 22, 1973, President Richard Nixon admitted that he had concealed aspects of the case involving the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington. He did so, he said, to protect national security "operations." Nixon affirmed his innocence and said he would stay in office. Herb Block, whose earliest cartoons critical of Nixon had appeared twenty-five years before, saw Nixon seeking cover amidst evidence of wiretapping, break-in, political sabotage, laundered FBI funds from Mexico, and other illegal activities.
36. The Shadow1955Art Wood In 1955 both Democrats and Republicans in Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of a $10,000 pay raise--from $15,000 to $25,000-- at a time when most Americans earned less than $3,900 a year. Art Wood implies that the dramatic pay raise not only contributed to the federal debt, but also brought Congressional leadership into question.
37. MiG fighter 1963Art Wood Cartoon shows Uncle Sam (labeled "U.S. Prestige") sporting a large black eye. Land (labeled "Cuba") is shown in the background. In February 1963, four Cuba-based MiGs fired on an American fishing boat. American prestige was damaged, and President Kennedy threatened retaliation if it occurred again.
38. "Sorry, but you have an incurable skin condition”Herbert Block 1963 In many areas, black doctors were excluded from practice in medical facilities. This not only deprived them of opportunities, but deprived many patients of all colors of treatment they might otherwise have received. In 1963, the AMA and a black medical association agreed to form a joint committee to halt injustices toward African American doctors.
39. Taped1970Herbert Block Long before the Watergate scandals, Herb Block was pointing out excessive use of government power to wiretap or otherwise investigate the activities of citizens an administration felt were at odds with its policies. In 1970, the Civil Service Commission admitted to having a Security Investigations Index with over 10 million entries, and the armed forces revealed surveillance of Americans involved in anti-Vietnam war activities.
40. "I want to make it perfectly clear that national defense requires 18-cent oil”1970 Edmund Valtman Cartoon shows President Nixon giving a speech, backed by two smiling men in Western hats. The speech is being given from a podium under an array of pipes and derricks labeled "Domestic Oil Co." Liquid, shown as dollars, drips into a can labeled "Political Contributions." In February 1970, President Nixon bowed to the pressures of the domestic oil companies and rejected a commission's recommendations that would have reduced quotas on the importation of oil.
41. "Now, as I was saying four years ago–”1972 Herbert Block In his 1968 bid for the presidency, Richard Nixon announced to the war-weary country that he had a secret plan to end the Vietnam War. When he ran for re-election four years later, American troops were still fighting in Indochina, with casualties continuing to climb.
42. Nixon awash in his office By June 1973, the country had become transfixed by the investigation of Watergate via the televised hearings of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. On June 25, former presidential counsel John Dean began his testimony, the first before the committee to directly accuse President Richard Nixon of involvement in the coverup.
43. Nixon, with sign, "I am not a crook”1974 Herbert Block On November 17, 1973, President Richard Nixon told 400 Associated Press managing editors that he had not profited from public service. "I have earned every cent. And in all of my years in public life I have never obstructed justice. People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook," he declared. On April 3, 1974, the White House announced that Nixon would pay $432,787.13 in back taxes plus interest after an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and a congressional committee. Among Nixon's benefits to himself were improvements in his properties, supposedly necessary for his protection. These included a security ice maker, a security swimming pool heater, security club chairs and table lamps, security sofa and security pillows.
44. "It comes out fuzzy”1978Herbert Block On May 12, 1978, President Jimmy Carter agreed to a tax-cut package under pressure from Congress and the Federal Reserve Board, seeking to end an economic recession. Image consultant Gerald Rafshoon set about to alter the public perception of Carter as being indecisive. But his efforts were soon overwhelmed when Iranians took Americans hostage. Carter's ill-conceived attempt at a military rescue of the hostages resulted in a desert disaster, with loss of American lives and planes.
45. "You can do a favor for me -- Rub out any gun control legislation”1980 Herbert Block During the 1980s, the National Rifle Association directed its efforts toward repealing the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, which banned the mail-order sale of guns and ammunition. Using its powerful grass roots organization and heavy treasury to target legislators who supported gun control, it helped to elect a more sympathetic Senate in 1984. And in 1986, it achieved the repeal of the 1968 legislation.
46. Cardboard Ronald ReaganHerbert Block Unlike Carter, President Ronald Reagan projected a strong image. His own Iranian hostage situation exploded in scandal, and his attempts to establish a presence in Lebanon cost the lives of 241 Marines. Among the Reagan administration domestic scandals was one involving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which led to the indictment of one EPA official and the forced resignation of another. Herb Block notes, "The agency was one of many stacked to fit Reagan policies. Corruption in the Housing and Urban Development Agency took the form of awarding agency money to developers who would make campaign contributions. But it was the Iran-Contra scandals that shook the country and his administration. Through all this, Reagan remained popular, and his image was upheld."
47. "I was out of the loop”1992Herbert Block During the 1992 election, President George Bush came under scrutiny for his role as vice-president during the Iran-contra scandals. Bush claimed to be "out of the loop" about the arms deal. Democratic candidate Bill Clinton made Bush's role a central issue in his run for the White House. Clinton's running mate, Senator Al Gore, referred to notes released by an aide to former Secretary of State George Shultz that belied Bush's claim. As the campaign drew to a close, more information linked Bush to the scandal. One of Bush's last acts as president was his issuance of pardons to Iran-contra figures who had been indicted, pled guilty or been found guilty.
48. Balance1998Herbert Block Allegations of an affair between President Bill Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky became public on January 21, 1998. Although Clinton repeatedly and forcefully denied. any improper relationship, which later testimony proved his statements untrue and resulted in a House vote of impeachment. While fending off these accusations, Clinton proposed the first balanced budget in nearly 30 years.
49. Tom Toles2006 A cartoon published January 29, 2006 attracted the ire of the Pentagon in the form of a protest letter signed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With regard to some recent assessments of the United States Army, the cartoon depicted the Army as a quadruple amputee soldier with a doctor resembling Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, declaring the Army "battle hardened". [1] The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, "Using the likeness of a service member who has lost his arms and legs in war as the central theme of a cartoon [is] beyond tasteless." Toles was quoted responding, "I think it's a little bit unfair in their reading of the cartoon to imply that is what it's about."
51. Resources http://rutlandhs.k12.vt.us/jpeterso/uboatcar.htm Herbert Block : Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millenium Cartoon America : A Library of Congress Running for Office : Candidates, Campaigns, & the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman Passional Christi und Antichristi The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists The Opper Project
53. Extra Credit Alphabet Illustration. 26 Letters of the Alphabet. Illustrate each one. Raise your grade up to 7 points.
Editor's Notes
http://hti.osu.edu/opper/editorial-cartoons
The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences (Latin: Disputatio pro declarationevirtutisindulgentiarum), commonly known as The Ninety-Five Theses, were written by Martin Luther in 1517 and are widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. Luther protested against what he considered clerical abuses, especially in regard to indulgences.Luther became an Augustinian monk in 1505, disappointing his equally strong-willed father, who wished him to become a lawyer. He earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Wittenberg, but instead of settling down to a placid and scholarly monkish life or an uneventful university career teaching theology, he began to develop his own personal theology, which erupted into outright blasphemy when he protested the use of indulgences in his 95 Theses.Indulgences, which were granted by the pope, forgave individual sinners not their sins, but the temporal punishment applied to those sins. These indulgences had become big business in much the same way pledge drives have become big business for public television in modern America. Luther's Theses, which outlined his theological argument against the use of indulgences, were based on the notion that Christianity is fundamentally a phenomenon of the inner world of human beings and had little or nothing to do with the outer world, such as temporal punishments. It is this fundamental argument, not the controversy of the indulgences themselves, that most people in the church disapproved of and that led to Luther's being hauled into court in 1518 to defend his arguments against the cardinal Cajetan. When the interview focused on the spiritual value of "good works," that is, the actions that people do in this world to benefit others and to pay off the debts they've incurred against God by sinning, Cajetan lost his temper and demanded that Luther recant. Luther ran, and his steady scission from the church was set in motion. The Northern Humanists, however, embraced Luther and his ideas.http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REFORM/LUTHER.HTM
In another series of what might be termed "political cartoons" entitled the Passion of Christ and Anti-Christ Luther contrasts the life and actions of Christ with those of the Pope. Originally drawn by Lucas Cranch the Elder
This propaganda was effective in challenging the power of the Roman Catholic church, primarily because the Church itself had done such a wonderful job of educating the otherwise illiterate masses. While few book audiences of today would know the story of the Whore of Babylon, virtually all of Europe was familiar with the text and was capable of understanding the cartoon.http://communication.ucsd.edu/bjones/Books/luther.html
Title: The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions / J[ames] Akin, fect.Creator: Akin, James, ca. 1773-1846 artistDate Created/Published: [Newburyport, Mass. : s.n.], 1804.Medium: 1 print on pale blue-grey laid paper : etching with watercolor ; 28.5 x 40.6 cm (sheet)Summary: James Akin's earliest-known signed cartoon, "The Prairie Dog" is an anti-Jefferson satire, relating to Jefferson's covert negotiations for the purchase of West Florida from Spain in 1804. Jefferson, as a scrawny dog, is stung by a hornet with Napoleon's head into coughing up "Two Millions" in gold coins, (the secret appropriation Jefferson sought from Congress for the purchase). On the right dances a man (possibly a French diplomat) with orders from French minister Talleyrand in his pocket and maps of East Florida and West Florida in his hand. He says, "A gull for the People."Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-01659 (digital file from original print) LC-USZC4-12953 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZC4-4544 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZ62-28114 (b&w film copy neg.) LC-USZCN4-214 (color film copy neg.)Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.Call Number: PGA - Akin--Prairie dog (B size) [P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USANotes:Title appears as written on print.The print was probably published in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where Akin was working in 1804-6.Trimmed to within plate.Quimby, no. 41Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1804-1.Exhibited: "Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis Clark and the Revealing of America,"Library of Congress, 2003. DLC
Title: Congressional scales. A true balanceCreator: N. Currier (Firm)Date Created/Published: N.Y., : Lith. & pub. by N. Currier, 2 Spruce St., c1850.Medium: 1 print on wove paper : lithograph ; image 41.9 x 30.4 cm.Summary: A satire on President Zachary Taylor's attempts to balance Southern and Northern interests on the question of slavery in 1850. Taylor stands atop a pair of scales, with a weight in each hand; the weight on the left reads "Wilmot Proviso" and the one on the right "Southern Rights." Below, the scales are evenly balanced, with several members of Congress, including Henry Clay in the tray on the left, and others, among them Lewis Cass and John Calhoun, on the right. Taylor says, "Who said I would not make a "NO PARTY" President? I defy you to show any party action here." One legislator on the left sings, "How much do you weigh? Eight dollars a day. Whack fol de rol!" Another states, "My patience is as inexhaustible as the public treasury." A congressman on the right says, "We can wait as long as they can." On the ground, at right, John Bull observes, "That's like what we calls in old Hingland, a glass of 'alf and 'alf."Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-4552 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZ62-8230 (b&w film copy neg.)Call Number: PGA - Currier & Ives--Congressional scales (B size) [P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
QuoteRoger A. Fischer, Them Damned Pictures: Explorations in American Cartoon Art. (North Haven CT: Archon Books) 1996. The mythic nature of the Nast's anti-Tweed cartoons is thoroughly analyzed in the first chapter of this book.
Title: Tweed-le-dee and Tilden-dum / Th. Nast.Creator: Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902 artistDate Created/Published: 1876.Medium: 1 print : wood engraving.Summary: Boss Tweed, as policeman, wearing uniform of convict, holding two boys by the collar with one hand, and holding up billy club with the other. Reform Tweed: "If all the people want is to have somebody arrested, I'll have you plunderers convicted. You will be allowed to escape; nobody will be hurt; and then Tilden will go to the White House, and I to Albany as Governor."Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-117137 (b&w film copy neg.)Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.Call Number: Illus. in AP2.H32 1876 Case Y [P&P][P&P]Notes:Illus. in: Harper's weekly, 1876 July 1, p. 525.
“The Third-Term Panic”November 7, 1874 Thomas NastThe elephant has been a symbol of strength since Roman times. Its first use by the Republican Party is believed to date from a printer’s cut (pre-made pictures kept ready to use as illustrations when needed) of an elephant used by an Illinois newspaper during Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 presidential campaign. Thomas Nast was a staunch Republican, and he deliberately chose the elephant as a symbol for his own Party because of the animal’s great size, intelligence, strength, and dignity. It first appeared in his November 7, 1874 cartoon, “The Third Term Panic,” which was a comment on fears that Grant would run for a third term as President that led some Republicans to vote with the Democrats. Nast continued using the elephant thereafter, and gradually it became the Republican icon as it was adopted by other cartoonists.http://cartoons.osu.edu/nast/off_year.htmIn this cartoon, artist Thomas Nast reacts to a series of editorials in the New York Herald criticizing what Herald owner/editor James Gordon Bennett Jr. considered to be President Ulysses S. Grant’s bid for an unprecedented third term. There was no constitutional limit on the number of presidential terms until ratification of the 22nd Amendment in 1951, but the tradition of serving no more than two terms, set by President George Washington, carried a strong stigma against anyone who attempted to violate it. To Bennett and others long dissatisfied with the policies and scandals of the Grant administration, any possibility that the former general would seek a third term was condemned as “Caesarism”—an undemocratic attempt to wield imperial power. Grant declined to pursue the Republican nomination actively in 1876, but was a candidate in 1880, when the deadlocked convention selected Congressman James Garfield, instead.The image of the featured cartoon was inspired by, and the text taken from, one of Aesop’s fables, “The Ass in the Lion’s Skin.” The rest of the fable reads: “At last coming upon a fox, he [the ass] tried to frighten him also, but the fox no sooner heard the sound of his voice than he exclaimed, ‘I might possibly have been frightened myself, if I had not hear your bray.’” The moral of the fable is that although a fool may disguise his appearance, his words will reveal his true nature. To Nast, the New York Herald is not a roaring lion to be feared, but a braying ass to be ridiculed. The reference in the citation to “Shakespeare or Bacon” is a jibe at Bennett’s contention that Shakespeare’s works were actually written by Sir Francis Bacon.Here, the New York Herald appears as an ass in a lion’s skin, whose ferocious presence frightens the “foolish animals” of the press, including The New York Times (unicorn), the New York Tribune (giraffe), and the New York World (owl). A skittish fox, representing the Democratic Party, has edged onto a reform plank near a gaping pit, by which the trumpeting elephant, symbolizing the Republican vote, lumbers. Since this issue of Harper’s Weekly went to press shortly before the congressional elections of November 3, 1874, the artist was uncertain which party would tumble into the pit, but early results boded ill for the Republicans. Thus, the elephant’s foreleg is raised precariously over the chasm, the “Ohio” and “Indiana” geese squawk about Democratic victories in those pivotal states, and the ostrich with its head in the ground alludes to temperance Republicans who nominated their own slate of candidates in New York. On November 3, the Democrats did win control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since before the Civil War, and Nast drew a sequel to this featured cartoon entitled “Caught In A Trap—The Third-Term Hoax” (November 21, 1874), in which the Republican Elephant has tumbled into the pit. It is often mistakenly assumed that the image in the featured cartoon of stampeding animals was based on a hoax concocted by one of Bennett's editors at the Herald in the fall of 1874. On November 9, the New York Herald reported in bold headlines that wild animals had broken loose in Central Park, causing “Terrible Scenes of Mutilation.” However, the postdated November 7 issue of Harper’s Weekly, which includes "The Third-Term Panic," was published in late October, over a week before the hoax. There is no evidence that either Nast knew about the hoax before it was perpetrated (which seems unlikely) or that the Herald was inspired by his cartoon (although it is an intriguing possibility). Soon after the incident, Nast craftily incorporated visual and textual references to the hoax in several cartoons over the ensuing months to mock Bennett and his journalistic colleagues. The postdated November 21 sequel, “Caught in a Trap,” was also probably drawn before the hoax, although the cartoonist had time before publication to add a subtitle referring to it: “The Result of the Third-Term Hoax.” The featured November 7 cartoon is one of Thomas Nast’s most important because it marks the first notable appearance of the Republican Elephant, which the cartoonist would develop over the next few years into the universally recognized symbol for the Republican Party. An elephant had been associated twice before with the Republican Party, once in President Abraham Lincoln’s 1864 campaign sheet, Father Abraham , (not The Rail-Splitter of 1860, as often cited), and once in Harper’s Weekly to depict the Liberal Republicans of 1872. However, in neither case did the caricature have a lasting impact on other political cartoonists or the public as a symbol for the Republican Party.Nast’s first use of an animal symbol for the Republican Party came in 1871. Like the featured cartoon, he employed an Aesop’s allusion to warn Republicans, depicted as a bloodied lion and bear, that their continued intra-party fighting might allow the Democrat Party (as a fox) to capture the presidency the next year. During the rest of the 1870s, Nast associated various animals with the Republican Party—bull, eagle, fish, fox, horse, lamb, rooster, and sheep (beleaguered Southern Republicans). Beginning with “The Third-Term Panic” of November 7, 1874, Nast used the elephant seven times over the following 18 months to represent the “Republican Vote.” However, Nast’s cartoon of April 29, 1876, indicates that the animal was not yet exclusively the symbol of the Republican Party. In that prophetic image, “The Political Situation,” a two-headed elephant, upon which sits a perplexed Uncle Sam, is “The Vote of the People,” with one head facing “The Democratic Road” and the other toward “The Republican Road.” Nast did not use the symbol again during the 1876 presidential campaign until his election-eve cartoon of October 28, "The Elephant Walk Around," in which the “Republican Vote” appears as a massive elephant crushing a two-headed Democratic Tiger. The uncertain outcome of the Electoral College controversy of 1876-1877 prompted the cartoonist to contribute two drawings during February 1877 of a two-tailed elephant (with no head), labeled the “Republican What-Is-It,” modeled after P. T. Barnum’s hoax.When the Electoral College Commission decided the presidency in favor of Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, Nast no doubt captured the feeling of many by portraying a badly wounded elephant at the grave of the Democratic Tiger. Entitled "Another Such Victory And I Am Undone," it was the first time that the elephant’s name was not qualified by “Vote” or another designation, but represented the entire Republican Party. Thereafter, Nast continued using the Republican Elephant symbol, and after 1879 stopped associating any other animal with the Republican Party except for one cartoon in 1886 in which Republican spoilsmen were depicted as vultures. By the 1880 presidential election, cartoonists for other publications had incorporated the elephant symbol into their own work, and by March 1884 Nast could refer to the image he had created for the Republican Party as “The Sacred Elephant.” Robert C. Kennedyhttp://www.harpweek.com/09cartoon/browsebydatecartoon.asp?month=november&date=7
Title: In danger. Puck: "What are you going to do about it?" / Keppler.Creator: Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894 artistDate Created/Published: [published 1881]Medium: 1 print : lithograph, color.Summary: Cartoon showing snake, representing monopolies involving senators, with tail wrapped around dome of the U.S. Capitol, facing personification of "Liberty", and "Puck" asking Uncle Sam, "What are you going to do about it?"Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-2835 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZ62-108652 (b&w film copy neg.)Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.Call Number: Illus. in AP101.P7 Case X [P&P][P&P][P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USANotes:Illus. in: Puck, 1881 Feb. 9, pp. 386-387.Reference copy in LOT 4405 (1881).Joseph Keppler filled the vacuum left by Nast's popular decline to become the most commercially and critically acclaimed cartoonist of the Gilded Age. Born in Vienna in 1838, to a pastry maker forced to flee the country because of his participation in efforts to create a unified German nation, Joseph followed his father to America in 1867 and settled among the large German-speaking community in St. Louis. By the time he left his homeland at age twenty-nine, he had graduated from the Austrian Academy of Fine Arts, appeared as featured actor at a Viennese theater, and in 1864-65 contributed to the popular illustrated humor magazine Kikeriki!. Shortly after his arrival Keppler "fell in with a distinguished crowd of journalists, writers, and artists"-- including a young reporter named Joseph Pulitzer-- from the German quarter who would engage in discussions about political events or literary and philosophical matters [11]. It is important to note these early experiences in Keppler's life in the United States, for they ensured that many of the liberal views he had grown up with would not wither after their transplantation into American soil. Thomas Nast came from Bavaria at a very young age, later married into a respectable New England family, and the maturation of his personal values during the Civil War made them inseparable from orthodox Republicanism; by contrast, Keppler emigrated after the war's end and never divested himself from his Austro-Germanic heritage. In short, he was probably never fully Americanized, and never lost sight of the kind of idealistic social activism which had characterized many German intellectuals since Martin Luther.
Title: Our Indian policy / J. Keppler.Creator: Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894 artistDate Created/Published: 1875.Medium: 1 print : wood engraving.Summary: Caricature of alleged frauds in Indian supplies from peace commissioners showing man offering Indians torn blankets, empty rifle case, and spoiled beef, as (Grant Pierce?) Marsh witnesses from over fence and resolves to report the scene.Reproduction Number: LC-USZC2-771 (color film copy slide) LC-USZ62-107773 (b&w film copy neg.)Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.Call Number: Illus. in AP2.H32 Case Y [P&P][P&P]Notes:Illus. in: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, 1875 Sept. 18, p. 17.
Title: The opening of the Congressional session / J. Keppler.Creator: Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, 1838-1894 artistDate Created/Published: [1887]Medium: 1 print (2 pages) : lithograph, color.Summary: Cartoon showing monster, "tariff question", in large bag "surplus", saying "Here I am Again! What are you going to do with me?," in House chambers.Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-1467 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZ62-93559 (b&w film copy neg.)Call Number: Illus. in AP101.P7 1887 Case X [P&P][P&P][P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USANotes:Illus. in: Puck, 1887 Dec. 7, pp. 240-241.Reference copy in LOT 7011-E.
Cartoon #2: GERMANY UNDER ALL March 12, 1915This is another cartoon that parodies a national anthem. In this case it is the old German imperial anthem Deutschland UberAlles, literally translated as Germany Over All.
Title: The tread millCreator: Macauley, C. R. (Charles Raymond), 1871-1934 artistDate Created/Published: [ca. 1913?]Medium: 1 photographic print.Summary: Cartoon marked New York World shows children turning a wheel labeled "Profits on child labor."Part of: Photographs from the records of the National Child Labor Committee (U.S.)Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-nclc-02852 (color digital file from b&w original print) LC-USZ62-18107 (b&w film copy negative)Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.Call Number: LOT 7479, v. 6, no. 3469 [P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Title: The road to dividendsCreator: TAD, 1877-1929 artistDate Created/Published: [ca. 1913?]Medium: 1 photographic print.Summary: Cartoon shows poor child carrying a heavy load followed by wealthy industrialists with mills in the background.Part of: Photographs from the records of the National Child Labor Committee (U.S.)Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-nclc-02853 (color digital file from b&w original print) LC-USZ62-18106 (b&w film copy negative)Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.Call Number: LOT 7479, v. 6, no. 3470 [P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Cartoon #3: JOHN BULL USES THE AMERICAN FLAG FOR PROTECTION ("CAWNT YOU SEE I'M A BLOOMING YANKEE!!") March 1915 This cartoon refers to the practice taken up by the British of flying a neutral flag (especially American) when in the declared war zone. The artist chose to depict one of the most well known British merchant ships, the Lusitania, to represent the entire merchant navy. Ironically, the Lusitania would end up being torpedoed two months later. After the war it was divulged that the Lusitania was carrying an extensive shipment of munitions in the hold.
The Zimmerman NoteThe British leaked the Zimmerman telegram (a dramatic German scheme to get Mexico to invade Texas and New Mexico) to the American press to pressure America to enter the war. 1917 Zimmermann TelegramAmerica had been involved in the Mexican revolution since 1911, sending troops twice into Mexico. The prospect of German intervention in the Americas contravened America’s oft-stated commitment to the Monroe Doctrine and gave the Zimmerman telegram incendiary force among American popular opinion.
“Gettin’ Awful Crowded!”Clifford BerrymanJanuary 28, 1924The Democratic race to challengeRepublican President CalvinCoolidge in 1924 opened up whenfront-runner William McAdoo provedweaker than expected. This cartooncomments on the ever-growing fieldof potential candidates in themonths leading up to the DemocraticNational Convention in New YorkCity. Here Missouri Senator JimReed is the latest one to “throw hishat in the ring,” while the Democraticdonkey worries about the crowdedfield. At the convention, formerAmbassador John W. Davis receivedthe nomination.U.S. Senate CollectionCenter for Legislative ArchivesFrom the Exhibit:Running for Office:Candidates, Campaigns and theCartoons of Clifford K. BerrymanThe National Archives &Records Administrationhttp://www.archives.gov
Well everything helpsHerbert BlockAs the Depression tightened its hold on American life, avid angler President Herbert Hoover cast about for ways to improve the economy. He sometimes took working vacations at his fishing camp on the Rapidan River (now in Shenandoah National Park) with members of Congress and his administration.Well everything helps, 1930 or 1931Ink over graphite underdrawing with scratching out on layered paper.Published in the Chicago Daily News (3)LC-USZ62-127207Born in Chicago on October 13, 1909, Herbert Block grew up in a family where art, history, and politics really mattered. His father, an accomplished chemist, also had a talent for writing and cartooning, contributing to such turn-of-the-twentieth-century humor magazines as Life, Puck, and Judge. He also supported his son's early studies at Art Institute of Chicago. He "showed me something about drawing," Herb Block says. His father also had worked as a reporter for the Chicago Record, and Herb's older brother Bill was a reporter on the Chicago Tribune and later the Chicago Sun. During high school Herb Block drew cartoons, and wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper. From his earliest years, he prepared for a career as a journalist.After graduation from high school worked briefly as a police reporter for Chicago's City News Bureau. He also wrote frequent paragraphs on topical subjects for a contributors' column in the Tribune. Because pen names were common then, his father suggested combining two names into one, and "Herblock" was born. Enrolling at Lake Forest College in Illinois, he majored in English and political science, studying under a professor who had worked for the Secretariat of the League of Nations. Talks with his professor furthered his interest in international affairs. Near the end of his sophomore year, he applied for a job at the Chicago News, which offered him a tryout to replace an editorial cartoonist who was leaving. The tryout worked so well that it ended his academic career.Just nineteen in 1929, Herb Block joined the major leagues of newspaper cartoonists. Among these were veteran Chicago Tribune cartoonists who had not long before generously taken time to look at his school paper efforts, discussed them with him, and given him originals of their drawings. Among these established cartoonist were Carey Orr, Gaar Williams and the much-loved and highly respected John T. McCutcheon, a Chicago institution. Herb Block was a particular fan of "Ding" Darling of the New York Herald Tribune, whose cartoon opinions were characterized by humor and vitality. Others were Edmund Duffy of the Baltimore Sun, whose crayon drawings were striking, and Chicago News colleague and front-page cartoonist, Vaughn Shoemaker, whose work was noted for its clean pen lines. He drew from them all in refining a style that remains to this day clear, concise, and compelling.Early in 1933, as Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office amidst economic devastation, Herb Block left the Chicago News, hired as only editorial cartoonist for the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), a Scripps-Howard feature service headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. "The Cleveland job was a whole new ball game," writes Herb Block in his memoirs. His Chicago News cartoons had been syndicated nationally but now reached a much larger number of papers. His commentary grew sharper and more prescient through the 1930s, responding to widespread unemployment and poverty in America and the concurrent rise of Fascism in Europe and communist tyranny in the Soviet Union.The Depression politicized Herb Block. Sheltered from economic hardships by his steady income, he observed the suffering around him and used his editorial panel as a vehicle for progressive reform. He admired Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal policies and recalls that "during the early days of the New Deal I did get to see what government could do." Herb Block came into his own during then, stirring domestic controversy with powerful images attacking the volatile oratory of such American demagogues as Father Coughlin and Huey Long. Largely supportive of New Deal policies, he nonetheless questioned President Roosevelt's efforts in some areas, notably an unsuccessful attempt in 1937 to increase the number of Supreme Court justices.In foreign affairs he hit his stride, warning of the threats to peace posed by Fascism in Europe. He created derisive portrayals of military dictators Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Francisco Franco scheming and dreaming of conquests and empires. And he brought their activities to the notice of a public and politicians who, after the disillusionment that followed War I, had turned inward to isolationism. Targeting dictatorships, Herb Block used symbols to carry his art and his message: a sharpened Soviet sickle poised to execute political prisoners or a Nazi cap extinguishing the lamp of German civilization.Herb Block was an early advocate of aid to the allies resisting Nazi aggression, and was for measures to prepare America for what was becoming a great world struggle. He noted Nazi outrages, giving them graphic form and visual power. He drew metaphors for the resilience of the human spirit, the inhumanity of war, and the duplicity of dictators, finding heroes among innocents and victims and taking to task villainous politicians. By 1941, with Britain under siege by the Nazis and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor still on the horizon, Herb Block's cartoons took aim at the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.Fred Ferguson, president of NEA, opposed what he called the cartoonist's "interventionism" and what Herb Block called "anti-isolationism." Ferguson summoned him to New York in spring 1942 to discuss their differences. "My life has been full of very fortunate coincidences," Herb Block has said, for, even as he sat in the New York office awaiting the disagreeable face-off, he received the news he had won his first Pulitzer Prize, vaulting him into national prominence and leaving his unappreciative publisher speechless. His 1942 Pulitzer Prize, based on cartoons of 1941, vindicated Herb Block's stance and solidified his reputation as one of the country's foremost political commentators.In early 1943, he was drafted into the Army at the age of thirty-three. He produced cartoons and articles and edited a "clipsheet" that was distributed throughout the Army, until he was mustered out of the service in 1945.He moved to Washington, hired as an editorial cartoonist by the Washington Post to begin work at the start of 1946. He has remained in that position ever since, drawing daily cartoons from the nation's capital for more than half a century. The late Katharine Graham wrote recently, "The extraordinary quality of Herb's eye, his insight and comments immediately stood out. When the Post was struggling for its existence, Herb was one of its major assets, as he has been throughout his 50 years here. The Post and Herblock are forever intertwined. If the Post is his forum, he helped create it. And he has been its shining light."In Washington, he has achieved a rare freedom from editorial control, sharing preliminary sketches with trusted office colleagues before selecting and creating a final cartoon for publication. He and the Post were in agreement on the excesses of the "anticommunist era" and the damaged caused by the reckless opportunism of McCarthy. Later, however, during the Vietnam War, he came more and more to oppose American government's policy, and his cartoons ran counter to the newspaper's editorial position.A strong believer in civil liberties, he directed cartoons against the House Committee on Un-American Activities from its earliest days under Congressman Dies in the 1930s until its expiration decades later. Whatever the motives of some individual committee members, he held to the view that there was something ironically wrong and not in the American tradition about a group of congressmen setting themselves up to decide who and what they chose to label "Un-American."Herb Block's "instincts are common-sensical," according to the late Katherine Graham, former Chairman of the Washington Post Company. His steadfast support for established values and reform policies transcend party politics: "My feeling was best expressed in a statement by a Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, that the object of government is to do for people what they need to have done but cannot do at all, or cannot do as well for themselves."Numerous editors have attempted unsuccessfully over the years to influence or alter his cartoons, suggesting he take a different approach or voice a different opinion. Herb Block has invariably demurred, standing by his work and upholding his now legendary reputation for editorial independence. A thoughtful journalist and gifted cartoonist, he is universally admired for his integrity. Recently Katharine Graham wrote of him, "Herb fought for and earned a unique position at the paper: one of complete independence of anybody and anything."Herb Block's longevity is due in part to the journalistic passion inspired by his father and older brothers. Unlike many cartoonists, he chooses to work daily in his office adjacent to the newsroom rather than draw at home or in an isolated studio. He takes full advantage of the instant access proximity provides to expert verification of facts and the latest news from Washington and around the globe. Close attention to breaking news and consultation with coworkers keeps his work fresh and his mind open to viewing new issues.When a drawing goes to press, however, it is Herb Block's own, without question. Through the decades he has remained true to certain issues and principles: supporting civil rights measures, gun control, campaign finance reform, funding for education and democracy for residents of the District of Columbia, among other issues. "Taking one issue at a time and one administration at a time and dealing with it the way you see it," is how he describes his approach. His longtime assistant, Jean Rickard, suggests that his parents instilled in him a strong sense of wrong and right, the confidence to express his views openly and the courage to stand up for what is right. For example, on the issue of racism, which Herb Block began addressing immediately after World War II (in advance of virtually all other American cartoonists), he notes "I never had those feelings growing up. My father and mother felt that you should simply be a good citizen and think about the other guy."Herb Block has been thinking about "the other guy" throughout his career. For more than seventy years, cartoon after cartoon, day after day, he has chronicled the best America has to offer and the worst, from the depths of the Great Depression into a new millennium. No editorial cartoonist in American history, not even Thomas Nast, has made a more lasting impression on the nation than Herbert Block. His influence has been enormous, both on his profession and the general public, although he modestly sloughs off such praise with anecdotes. One was about a comment related to Post publisher, Phil Graham during the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings. Walter Winchell told Graham that he had come upon Senator McCarthy shaving at midday and complaining that he had to shave twice a day on account of that guy [Herb Block] and his cartoons. Apparently his caricatures of the senator as an unshaven, belligerent Neanderthal in a suit found their mark. When asked if he feels he played a role in checking McCarthy's rise to power, Herb Block quietly responds, "I sure tried to." Richard Nixon expressed a similar reaction to the cartoons, saying at one point he had to "erase the Herblock image."Humor has been one of his greatest assets, drawing people in, encouraging them to read the cartoons and consider his opinions. Laughter warms the coldest heart and lends perspective to serious issues and events. "I enjoy humor and comedy," he says, "and try to get fun into the work." Humor is an important vehicle for delivering a message, making "it a little easier for the medicine to go down." Herb Block's cartoons may never cure cancer or the common cold, but for the better part of a century they have helped ward off the ill effects of war, bigotry, economic opportunism, political arrogance, and social injustice. What more could we ask of one man?Harry L. KatzHead CuratorPrints and Photographs Division
"This is the forest, primeval--"Herbert BlockConcern for the depletion of our natural resources is not new. In his first daily cartoon, Herb Block deplored the clear-cutting of America's virgin forests and foreshadowed the economic wasteland to come in the next decade. The caption is the first line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline.This is the forest, primeval--, April 24, 1929Reproduction of original drawingPublished in the Chicago Daily News (1)
Title: For sale. Gracias! / Edmund Duffy.Creator: Duffy, Edmund, 1899-1962 artistDate Created/Published: [1938?]Medium: 1 drawing : crayon, ink brush and opaque white ; 48.6 x 38.2 cm (sheet)Summary: Cartoon shows President Lázaro Cárdenas standing behind a large pile of oil drums (labeled "Mexican oil"), offering them for sale. In 1938, President Cárdenas nationalized the foreign oil companies. Many countries, including the United States and Great Britain, retaliated by boycotting Mexican oil, but the onset of World War II resulted in the abandonment of the boycotts and an agreement by Mexico to provide compensation.Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-03642 (digital file from original drawing)Rights Advisory: Rights status not evaluated. For general information see "Copyright and Other Restrictions...,"(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/195_copr.html)Call Number: Unprocessed [item] [P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USANotes:Title from item.Paper watermarked: CRANE [?] BOND [?].Forms part of: Art Wood Collection of Caricature and Cartoon (Library of Congress).Probably published in: The Sun (Baltimore, Md.)Unprocessed in WOOD/Duffy/328Source: Miller, Mexico, a history, p. 320-21 -- ljr
The New Order , 1941.Offset lithograph.Published cover for Arthur Szyk, The New Order, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1941.LC-USZC4-7399 (color film copy transparency)Copyright Deposit Published within Szyk's first year of permanent residence in the United States, The New Order, contains selections of cartoons and caricatures originally published in the New York newspaper, PM. The book was published in July 1941, five months before the United States entered War War II, and many of the cartoons reflect Szyk's optimism that it would end soon. The title page for this book bears the caricatures of Hermann Goering (center), Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (left), and Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan (right) that appeared in the pages of PM on Sunday, January 19, 1941.Arthur Szyk (1894 - 1951) was one America's leading political artists during World War II, when he produced hundreds of anti-Axis illustrations and cartoons in aid of the Allied war effort. Throughout his career he created art in the service of human rights and civil liberties -- in his native Poland, in Paris where he was trained during the 1920s, and in America, the country he adopted in 1940. Settling in the United States, Szyk announced, "At last, I have found the home I have always searched for. Here I can speak of what my soul feels. There is no other place on earth that gives one the freedom, liberty and justice that America does."Born of Jewish parents in Lodz, Poland, Szyk acquired his early art training in Paris and Cracow. Between 1919 and 1920, during Poland's war against the Soviet Bolsheviks, he served as artistic director of the Department of Propaganda for the Polish army regiment quartered in Lodz. In 1921, he moved to Paris where he lived and worked for ten years. In 1934, Szyk traveled to the United States for exhibitions of his work, including one at the Library of Congress where a series of thirty-eight miniatures commemorating George Washington and the Revolutionary period were shown. In late 1940, after a period of residence in England, he immigrated to the United States.In America, Arthur Szyk embraced the patriotic and democratic spirit of his adopted country. His work entitled The United States of America, includes portrayals of an African American and Native American, representing the diversity of American society, as well as familiar imagery -- Hoover Dam, the Manhattan skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Pony Express. His anti-Axis cartoons appeared frequently in such popular magazines as Collier's and in two published compilations, The New Order (1941) and Ink & Blood (1946). He also illustrated numerous works, including a richly rendered, magnificently printed Haggadah (1940), reflecting his passion for his own Jewish heritage and concern for the Jewish people in the face of Nazi hostility.
Europe is getting hot! We've got to move to the western hemisphere , 1944Ink and graphite on paper.LC-USZC4-7403 (color film copy transparency) Library exchange with Arthur Szyk, 1944. Szyk portrays the Axis plot to dominate the world. Hitler sits at the head of the table (left), flanked by Joseph Goebels and Hermann Goering on his left, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco to his right, and Heinrich Himmler across.
Don't vote for Roosevelt!!! , 1944.Transparent watercolor, gouache and ink over graphite underdrawing.Lent by J. Arthur Wood, Jr.In 1944, during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fourth and final presidential campaign, Szyk offered this derisive cartoon suggesting Axis leaders Hitler and Tojo would welcome a change in administration, hoping that FDR's successor might be less aggressive in prosecuting the war.
Title: [Churchill as an octopus] / Seppla.Creator: Seppla artistDate Created/Published: [between 1935 and 1943]Medium: 1 drawing.Summary: Political cartoon depicting Winston Churchill as an octopus under a Star of David, fastening his tentacles around the earth.Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-05363 (digital file from original) LC-USZC4-11914 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZ62-54514 (b&w film copy neg.)Rights Advisory: Rights status not evaluated. For general information see "Copyright and Other Restrictions..." (http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/195_copr.html)Call Number: LOT 3575-5 [item] [P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USANotes:In collection: Cartoons by Josef Plank "Seppla", Box 5.Exhibited: Churchill and the Great Republic, Library of Congress, 2004, and other venues, 2004-2005.Title devised by Library staff.
"Seppla" [Josef Plank]. Axis bombs severing F.D.R. & Churchill's "hands across the sea," between 1935 and 1943. Drawing. Prints and Photographs Division (156)
"TskTsk -- Somebody Should Do Something About That”Herbert BlockPresident Dwight Eisenhower was frequently accused of failure to provide leadership on domestic problems. Among Herb Block's criticisms of the administration was Eisenhower's lack of support for the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling for desegregation. Eisenhower said we all have opinions and lamented that "you can't change the hearts of men by laws." The leadership vacuum persisted long after the Court's ruling, which allowed time for the organization of White Citizens councils, of "massive resistance" and confrontations that continued beyond Eisenhower's term. In 1956, two years after the Court's ruling, Eisenhower's view on integration was that it should proceed more slowly."TskTsk -- Somebody Should Do Something About That," April 3, 1956Reproduction of original drawingPublished in the Washington Post (145)
Title: [Washington money machine] / Art Wood.Creator: Wood, Art, 1927- artistDate Created/Published: [between 1956 and 1965]Medium: 1 drawing : crayon, ink brush, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing ; 36.2 x 29 cm (sheet)Summary: Cartoon shows dollar bills flowing down into machine labeled "Washington" while only a penny emerges to drop into a surprised man's hands. Cartoon suggests that the average citizen receives little from the taxes and other monies paid to the federal government.Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-09426 (digital file from original drawing)Rights Advisory: Rights status not evaluated. For general information see "Copyright and Other Restrictions...,"(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/195_copr.html)Call Number: Unprocessed in PR 13 CN 2001:055-4 [item] [P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.printNotes:Title devised by library staff.Copyright by Pittsburgh Press.Forms part of: Art Wood Collection of Caricature and Cartoon (Library of Congress).Exhibited: Cartoon America: Highlights from the Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Library of Congress, 2006-2007.Unprocessed in WOOD/Wood.434No date in inventory; Art Wood was chief editorial cartoonist at the Pittsburgh Press from 1956 to 1965/ww
"Evtu?”Herbert BlockOn May 24, 1966, Illinois Republican Everett Dirksen took the Senate floor to call for a "thorough discussion of the diplomatic, military and political situation in Vietnam." He attacked President Lyndon Johnson for lack of candor as military engagements increased and United States warplanes carried out a record number of air strikes on North Vietnam. The cartoon alludes William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, where Caesar says, "Et tu, Brute?" when stabbed by Brutus, and the title plays on Dirksen's first name, Everett."Evtu?" June 10, 1966Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paperPublished in the Washington Post (63)LC-USZ62-127072
National-security blanketHerbert BlockOn May 22, 1973, President Richard Nixon admitted that he had concealed aspects of the case involving the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington. He did so, he said, to protect national security "operations." Nixon affirmed his innocence and said he would stay in office. Herb Block, whose earliest cartoons critical of Nixon had appeared twenty-five years before, saw Nixon seeking cover amidst evidence of wiretapping, break-in, political sabotage, laundered FBI funds from Mexico, and other illegal activities.National-security blanket, May 27, 1973Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paperPublished in the Washington Post (75)LC-USZ62-126917
The ShadowArt WoodIn 1955 both Democrats and Republicans in Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of a $10,000 pay raise--from $15,000 to $25,000-- at a time when most Americans earned less than $3,900 a year. Art Wood implies that the dramatic pay raise not only contributed to the federal debt, but also brought Congressional leadership into question.
Title: MiG fighter / Art Wood.Creator: Wood, Art, 1927- artistDate Created/Published: 1963 February.Medium: 1 drawing : crayon, ink brush, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing ; 38 x 27.8 cm (sheet)Summary: Cartoon shows Uncle Sam (labeled "U.S. Prestige") sporting a large black eye. Land (labeled "Cuba") is shown in the background. In February 1963, four Cuba-based MiGs fired on an American fishing boat. American prestige was damaged, and President Kennedy threatened retaliation if it occurred again.Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-09427 (digital file from original drawing)Rights Advisory: Rights status not evaluated. For general information see "Copyright and Other Restrictions...,"(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/195_copr.html)Call Number: Unprocessed in PR 13 CN 2001:055-4 [item] [P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.printNotes:Title from item.Date stamped on verso: Feb 24 1963.Copyright by Pittsburgh Press.Forms part of: Art Wood Collection of Caricature and Cartoon (Library of Congress).Exhibited: Cartoon America: Highlights from the Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Library of Congress, 2006-2007.Unprocessed in WOOD/Wood.435Source: Washington post, Feb. 22, 1963, p. 1 -- ljr
"Sorry, but you have an incurable skin condition”Herbert BlockIn many areas, black doctors were excluded from practice in medical facilities. This not only deprived them of opportunities, but deprived many patients of all colors of treatment they might otherwise have received. In 1963, the AMA and a black medical association agreed to form a joint committee to halt injustices toward African American doctors."Sorry, but you have an incurable skin condition," July 4, 1963Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paperPublished in the Washington Post (54)LC-USZ62-127084
TapedHerbert BlockLong before the Watergate scandals, Herb Block was pointing out excessive use of government power to wiretap or otherwise investigate the activities of citizens an administration felt were at odds with its policies. In 1970, the Civil Service Commission admitted to having a Security Investigations Index with over 10 million entries, and the armed forces revealed surveillance of Americans involved in anti-Vietnam war activities.Taped, January 18, 1970 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (69) LC-USZ62-126927
Title: "I want to make it perfectly clear that national defense requires 18-cent oil" / Ed Valtman '70.Creator: Valtman, Edmund S., 1914- artistDate Created/Published: [19]70 March 1.Medium: 1 drawing : ink and tonal film overlay over graphite underdrawing, with paste-on ; 36.3 x 28.6 cm (sheet)Summary: Cartoon shows President Nixon giving a speech, backed by two smiling men in Western hats. The speech is being given from a podium under an array of pipes and derricks labeled "Domestic Oil Co." Liquid, shown as dollars, drips into a can labeled "Political Contributions." In February 1970, President Nixon bowed to the pressures of the domestic oil companies and rejected a commission's recommendations that would have reduced quotas on the importation of oil.Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-09112 (digital file from original drawing)Rights Advisory: Publication may be restricted. For information see "Edmund S. Valtman Rights and Restrictions Information,"(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/384_valt.html)Call Number: Unprocessed in PR 13 CN 2001:055-4 [item] [P&P]Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.printNotes:Title from item.Signed and dated lower left corner.Published in The Hartford Times.Copyright 1970 by Edmund S. Valtman.Forms part of: Art Wood Collection of Caricature and Cartoon (Library of Congress).Exhibited: Cartoon America: Highlights from the Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Library of Congress, 2006-2007.Unprocessed in WOOD/Valtman.432President Richard M. Nixon gives a speech against a backdrop of oil derricks, pipes, and two smiling figures who are probably oil executives. Edmund Valtman (1914-2005) questioned Nixon's motives for rejecting oil import quotas under the guise of ensuring sufficient oil for defense. By depicting drops of liquid as oil money, dripping into a storage tank labeled "Political Contributions," he strongly signaled the president's interest in bolstering financial support for Republicans in the upcoming Congressional elections. Conservative in outlook, Pulitzer prize winner Valtman proved that he spared no U.S. president, including Nixon, hard scrutiny in his work. For more information about his career and work, please see, Edmund Valtman: The Cartoonist Who Came in from the Cold http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/valtman/ .
"Now, as I was saying four years ago–”Herbert BlockIn his 1968 bid for the presidency, Richard Nixon announced to the war-weary country that he had a secret plan to end the Vietnam War. When he ran for re-election four years later, American troops were still fighting in Indochina, with casualties continuing to climb."Now, as I was saying four years ago–", August 9, 1972 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (73) LC-USZ62-126919
Nixon awash in his officeHerbert BlockBy June 1973, the country had become transfixed by the investigation of Watergate via the televised hearings of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. On June 25, former presidential counsel John Dean began his testimony, the first before the committee to directly accuse President Richard Nixon of involvement in the coverup.[Nixon awash in his office], June 26, 1973 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on paper Published in the Washington Post (76) LC-USZ62-126918
Nixon, with sign, "I am not a crook”Herbert BlockOn November 17, 1973, President Richard Nixon told 400 Associated Press managing editors that he had not profited from public service. "I have earned every cent. And in all of my years in public life I have never obstructed justice. People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook," he declared. On April 3, 1974, the White House announced that Nixon would pay $432,787.13 in back taxes plus interest after an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and a congressional committee. Among Nixon's benefits to himself were improvements in his properties, supposedly necessary for his protection. These included a security ice maker, a security swimming pool heater, security club chairs and table lamps, security sofa and security pillows.[Nixon, with a money-bag for a face, carries a sign, "I am not a crook"], April 4, 1974 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on paper Published in the Washington Post (78) LC-USZ62-126921
"It comes out fuzzy”Herbert BlockOn May 12, 1978, President Jimmy Carter agreed to a tax-cut package under pressure from Congress and the Federal Reserve Board, seeking to end an economic recession. Image consultant Gerald Rafshoon set about to alter the public perception of Carter as being indecisive. But his efforts were soon overwhelmed when Iranians took Americans hostage. Carter's ill-conceived attempt at a military rescue of the hostages resulted in a desert disaster, with loss of American lives and planes."It comes out fuzzy," May 21, 1978Ink, graphite, crayon, porous point pen, opaque white, and overlays over graphite underdrawing on paperPublished in the Washington Post (88)LC-USZ62-126935
"You can do a favor for me -- Rub out any gun control legislation”Herbert BlockDuring the 1980s, the National Rifle Association directed its efforts toward repealing the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, which banned the mail-order sale of guns and ammunition. Using its powerful grass roots organization and heavy treasury to target legislators who supported gun control, it helped to elect a more sympathetic Senate in 1984. And in 1986, it achieved the repeal of the 1968 legislation."You can do a favor for me--Rub out any gun control legislation," August 7, 1980 Ink, crayon, porous point pen, and opaque white, over blue pencil underdrawing on paper Published in the Washington Post (94) LC-USZ62-126877
Cardboard Ronald ReaganHerbert BlockUnlike Carter, President Ronald Reagan projected a strong image. His own Iranian hostage situation exploded in scandal, and his attempts to establish a presence in Lebanon cost the lives of 241 Marines. Among the Reagan administration domestic scandals was one involving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which led to the indictment of one EPA official and the forced resignation of another. Herb Block notes, "The agency was one of many stacked to fit Reagan policies. Corruption in the Housing and Urban Development Agency took the form of awarding agency money to developers who would make campaign contributions. But it was the Iran-Contra scandals that shook the country and his administration. Through all this, Reagan remained popular, and his image was upheld."[Cardboard Ronald Reagan], March 5, 1987Ink, crayon, porous point pen, and opaque white, over blue pencil underdrawing on paperPublished in the Washington Post (102)LC-USZ62-126874
"I was out of the loop”Herbert BlockDuring the 1992 election, President George Bush came under scrutiny for his role as vice-president during the Iran-contra scandals. Bush claimed to be "out of the loop" about the arms deal. Democratic candidate Bill Clinton made Bush's role a central issue in his run for the White House. Clinton's running mate, Senator Al Gore, referred to notes released by an aide to former Secretary of State George Shultz that belied Bush's claim. As the campaign drew to a close, more information linked Bush to the scandal. One of Bush's last acts as president was his issuance of pardons to Iran-contra figures who had been indicted, pled guilty or been found guilty."I was out of the loop", October 4, 1992Ink, crayon, porous point pen, and opaque white, over blue pencil underdrawing on paperPublished in the Washington Post (108)LC-USZ62-126895
BalanceHerbert BlockAllegations of an affair between President Bill Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky became public on January 21, 1998. Although Clinton repeatedly and forcefully denied. any improper relationship, which later testimony proved his statements untrue and resulted in a House vote of impeachment. While fending off these accusations, Clinton proposed the first balanced budget in nearly 30 years.Balance, February 4, 1998Ink, crayon, porous point pen, opaque white, and overlays over blue pencil underdrawing on paperPublished in the Washington Post (114)LC-USZ62-126900
Tom TolesA cartoon published January 29, 2006 attracted the ire of the Pentagon in the form of a protest letter signed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With regard to some recent assessments of the United States Army, the cartoon depicted the Army as a quadruple amputee soldier with a doctor resembling Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, declaring the Army "battle hardened". [1] The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, "Using the likeness of a service member who has lost his arms and legs in war as the central theme of a cartoon [is] beyond tasteless." Toles was quoted responding, "I think it's a little bit unfair in their reading of the cartoon to imply that is what it's about."
