Herbert Block, Political Cartoonist (1940-2018)

          The Washington Post between 1972 and 1974, during the time between the beginning of the Watergate Scandal and President Nixon's resignation, there were one hundred and seventy four political cartoons attacking the president on the Watergate Scandal alone. Herblock politically was discontent with Nixon's political corruption and policy. He was against the wiretapping and irrationality of Nixon.
          Nixon was portrayed as giving evidence to detectives that would protect him against accusations. Herblock was the most feared editorial cartoonist in the country. He understood that his role was to speak truth to power. He had the instinct of making his point across, an independent voice. He wasn't afraid of the owners of the post, he wasn't afraid of the white house, he wasn't afraid of the witch hunting committees in congress. He was not afraid to speak his mind. He believed in independence, liberties, and freedom. He had a righteous instinct of what is fair and just. He was the voice of the nation. He had an understanding before the facts of where a political event would lead.
          With humor, he addressed all of the people of the American nation, all the people that were often overlooked. Herblock truly believed in all of his cartoon. He only portrayed his beliefs in cartoons he believed in. He made it a point to keep himself well informed through newspapers, radio, and television. Herblock liked to make the point that nobody else had said yet. He tried to show that some controversial events were inherently ridiculous in nature and yet were not being discussed. He creatively created a symbol to represent events that don't have preset symbols to identify them unlike political parties.
          Herblock begun drawing when he was in grade school. His father had done some drawing when he was a young man. He was a cartoonist and a young journalist. He made a point of bringing home drawing materials and making these resources available to him since a young age. He believed that artistic following is extremely dependant on parental strategies and supports. His father encouraged him to pursue cartooning. He began drawing cartoons for the school newspaper. He attempted both writing and drawing. His brother was a writing reporter in the Chicago Tribune, and he worked as a reporter as well, but he enjoyed cartooning more. He dropped out of college after two years to become a cartoonist at the Chicago News. They hired him and he never went back to school. He regretted not going back to school since he believed that it is very important.
          Herbert looked subjectively at his topics and adjusted his views to the fairness of the reason. He makes sure that the cartoon is his personal opinion. He wanted to give his opinions frankly as opinions. He appreciates being alive at the time he is because it satisfied him in this political period, namely the Nixon administration, that truly appreciated his political cartoonist opinion. He considers himself Liberal, but is often called conservative since he vouches for more traditional ideals. He stated that he never felt a lack of political material in both Republican and Democratic administrators. Herbert never felt he needed to balance out his cartoons between opponents because if he did it wouldn't be a true opinion. Herblock stated that he has no political heroes, but it does not stand in the way of him enjoying his quality of life.