He was largely supportive of the New Deal, although questioned some of Roosevelt's policies such as the 1937 court-packing plan. This picture to the right shows how he liked Roosevelt's policies and wanted him to keep going, but he was wasting his time meddling in the court affairs.
Herblock, as was his pen name, was against the rising fascism and subsequent Soviet policies. He used symbols such as the hammer and sickle abusing citizens, or a Nazi cap extinguishing a candle (left).
During the Cold War, he didn't like the excess that came with defying communism. His disdain for American values grew during the McCarthy era (we studied some pictures on that earlier), and he opposed the government even more during the Vietnam War. On the left is an image from 1977 showing his opinion on the growing "snooping" power of the FBI, CIA, etc.
His legacy today is one of integrity and legendary editorial independence. He, himself, was criticized often, but he always stood by his work. 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.
He died in November 2001, after serving America for over half a century by helping to ward off the ill effects of war, bigotry, economic opportunism, political arrogance, and social injustice.
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblocks-history/about.html
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblocks-history/
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblocks-history/object.html
Great job on this post! I think it's really interesting how cartoonists can have a meaningful impact on society. Many artists continue to make political cartoons today. An example of a modern cartoonist would be Steve Artley. He's created many cartoons that simply make fun of Trump, but a lot of his cartoons have a valuable meaning. He uses art to voice his support for gun control and other meaningful political debates. It's cool to see how cartoons can affect politics throughout history.
ReplyDeletehttp://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoonist/profile.cfm/ArtleS/
Bennett, I really appreciated your post. I always found Herblock interesting, and I'm a little bummed out that you beat me to blogging about him. Reading your article intrigued me, and I researched a little more about the iconic cartoonist. He was a cartoonist at the Washington Post for 55 years, and it was there where he drew some of his most famous and controversial cartoons. Katherine Graham, a longtime chairman of Washington Post, writes of Herbert, "Herb's unique ability to crystallize what is right- or, more likely, wrong-about an issue or a person has often influenced the course of events in Washington". Herblock's cartoons have always had an acute perspective of the correctness of the situation, and we've seen that over the decades we've learned about and the cartoons we've seen. His death marks the end of a perspective that has been critiquing American society and culture for the better part of the 20th century, and we can only try to uphold the principles he stood for and the legacy he left.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.herbblockfoundation.org/herb-block/biography