'This Shop Gives Every New President of the Unites States a Free Shave'

In 55 years as the Washington Post's editorial cartoonist, Herblock coined "McCarthyism," helped take down Nixon, and delivered pointed commentaries that remain relevant today.

David A. Graham Jan 26 2014,
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/this-shop-gives-every-new-president-of-the-unites-states-a-free-shave/283131/

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Herblock in his office after winning his third Pulitzer Prize, in 1979. (Charles Tasnadi/Associated Press)

A guest post by the excellent cartoonist Bill Day on the great Herblock, after I saw yesterday's cartoon online and asked him about it...

Discovering Herblock is a transcendent moment in my early awareness as both a cartoonist and a young southerner coming of age in the segregated South. At around 8 or 9 years old in the late 50's, I became very aware of the inequality of my region, trying to comprehend why America would talk about freedom and then not allow it. The water fountains, the separate entrances, the back of buses, the separate schools, and the unpaved roads in 'Goldboro', the black section of town. I saw all of that clearly and looked for understanding from my parents, who while loving and kind, failed it support my opinions. There seemed to be no one who would support me.

   I was beginning to really like cartooning and found a Herblock cartoon as an example of 'editorial cartoons' in the World Book Encyclopedia. It was "Fire!" It was the first editorial cartoon I had ever seen and it opened up my world. I started looking for them in newspapers in my home town library where there were many out of state newspapers. There I discovered Mauldin, Haynie, Conrad,  and many others. As the civil rights movement started to shake the foundation of the deep south, I would go to the library and see what these cartoon heroes of mine would draw to explain the events unfolding. Herblock was my very favorite and I followed him closely. My interest in the newspaper section at the library began to be noticed by the chief librarian. I was about 12 years old by then and it was unusual for a boy my age to be spending so much time there. I was also naive about her interest in me. One day she came over and asked what had my intense interest. I gladly showed her the Herblock cartoon and spoke so admiringly about him. She was not happy about it.

    Several weeks later I went to the library to catch up on my cartoon education. I looked everywhere for the Washington Post, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I went up to the counter and asked where it might be and the librarian told me that the subscription had been canceled. I asked why, and she told me that she was not going to have the youth of her town corrupted by such Communist propaganda! I was absolutely crushed.

    Of course, it was too late. I was already corrupted by the education I had learned from Herb, and her action only reinforced my understanding of the events rocking the South. The door had been opened.

   In 1974 I made a trip to Washington and met Herb. He was so wonderful to me. The nicest, sweetest guy I have ever met. We stayed in touch for years after that. Herb would send me clippings of the cartoons he saw of mine when they popped up in Newsweek or the New York Times. It was always a thrill to get a letter from him. He was following me as I had followed him for all those years. It hurt so much when Herb died and I was depressed about it for a very long time. I loved him.

I debated with myself about whether to do a 'takeoff' of Herb's famous cartoon. I finally decided that Herb would have liked it, since he was a dear friend of mine. I reversed the water bucket with the fire, making it different enough. I hope Herb is smiling now. He is such a hero to me. -- Bill Day

I haven't read this since the first edition came out, but I recall liking it quite a bit.

Howard Cruse's graphic novel "Stuck Rubber Baby," reviewed by Dennis Drabelle
By Dennis Drabelle
Washington Post August 21, 2010; C03

and here's a general who likes to use cartoons in his briefings. Herblock and Daryl Cagle are namechecked.

New intelligence chief Clapper brings sense of humor to serious job
By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 21, 2010; A03

Independent scholar Warren Bernard returns to the Library of Congress on Wednesday, March 31, to give a talk in conjunction with the Herblock! exhibition, "Declaration of Independence: Herblock: His Foes and His Editors". This event will take place in Dining Room A located on the 6th Floor of the Madison Building at noon.

Warren writes in,

This time, I am going to lecture on his editorial independence, and get into a few battles he had with his editors. This will include showing the cartoons that even the Washington Post did not run (though indeed his syndicated papers did run them) when Herblock and the then-editor of the Post, Phil Graham went head to head. This was not the first time Herblock battled his editors; we will also get into a large battle he had prior to his coming to the Post He was an ardent anti-isolationist, much to the chagrin of the isolationist syndicate he worked for.

We will get into all of this, and show cartoons galore!!

Here are the details, hope to see you!!!

Date: Wednesday March 31

Time: Noon (that 12:00PM...)

Place: Madison Building, Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave Washington, DC

Room: Dining Room A, 6th Floor

Metro: Capitol South exit, Blue or Orange Line

Herblock was a liberal?! Shocking!!

Library of Congress Spins Lefty Cartoonist Herblock as an 'Independent Spirit'
By Scott Whitlock
Newsbusters November 23, 2009

The Buffalo News pays Tom Toles a backwards compliment in this review - How Herblock ruled Washington with a pen, By Mike Vogel, NEWS BOOK REVIEWER, November 08, 2009,

Haynes Johnson - Herblock
7 p.m. Johnson, who worked with Herblock at The Washington Post, will launch a new anthology celebrating Block's life and career. The Post's editorial cartoonist was a protean figure whose career spanned thirteen American Presidents. His cartoons mocked Senator McCarthy and Richard Nixon, and continued on into the 1980s to take on President Reagan. Block made no pretense of objectivity; he was a good liberal with a love of the political game. In 1984 Herblock was incredibly generous to a tiny new bookstore at 5010 Connecticut Avenue, appearing twice to sign his book.

To read the transcript with Harry Katz, former prints curator at the Library of Congress on Herblock, click through "Herblock Was One Of Most Influential Political Cartoonists In U.S. History," By Maureen Cavanaugh, Hank Crook, KPBS These Days | Monday, November 2, 2009, or click here to listen to the audio.

See "The St. Louis Refugee Ship Blues: Art Spiegelman recounts a sad story 70 years later" for Spiegelman's full-page look at editorial cartoons on the St. Louis, a ship full of Jewish refugees from the Nazis that wasn't allowed to dock in the US. It's an excellent piece of cartoon journalism with a hat-tip to Herblock included. A piece like this shows what newspapers could still be for people.

Sara Duke tells me "you would like hands-on experience working with cartoon art this summer, the Junior Fellows who come to the Prints and Photographs Division will be working with our Herb Block Collection - more than 14,000 original drawings. Come to this page: http://www.loc.gov/hr/employment/index.php, and click on "Internship, Fellowship, and Volunteer Programs". The information for the 2009 Junior Fellows Program has just gone online. The deadline is March 11, 2009."

For a basic overview of Herb Block's career, see "Stars of Political Cartooning - Herb “Herblock” Block," by Brian Cronin, Monday, October 6th, 2008.

See "Cartoonists, Lampooning the Political Elite," By George Dwyer, Voice of America 18 June 2008. There's a video report as well as the web text.

See "The Cartoonist’s Cartoonists: Clay Bennett," By Alan Gardner, in the Daily Cartoonist June 17, 2008. Bennett's got an excellent list with some real surprises like Ron Cobb and Quino.

The Berryman, Herblock and Oliphant shows got noticed in today's Weekend section. See "Political Lines, Sharply Drawn," By Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, June 6, 2008; Page WE23 who for some reason seems to feel that Oliphant is too hard on politicians. "Is that possible?" I must ask.

Actually, it's a shame this story wasn't longer as Sullivan could have been onto something, but had only 2 paragraphs per exhibit to make his point. Personally, I don't agree with him that political cartoonists are getting harder on their subjects. There's a lot of softballs out there, and the fact that Oliphant is throwing them may very well be the reason that he doesn't have a base newspaper. And Berryman's contemporaries could be as biting as any cartoonists - Berryman just chose not to be.

Here's the basic information lifted from the Post:

A Trio of Cartoon Exhibitions
Friday, June 6, 2008; Page WE23

Running for Office: Candidates, Campaigns and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman Through Aug. 17 at the National Archives, Constitution Avenue between Seventh and Ninth streets NW (Metro: Archives-Navy Memorial). 866-272-6272. http://www.archives.gov. Open daily 10 to 7. Free.

Herblock's Presidents: "Puncturing Pomposity" Through Nov. 30 at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F streets NW (Metro: Gallery Place-Chinatown). 202-633-1000 (TDD: 202-633-5285). http://www.npg.si.edu. Open daily 11:30 to 7. Free.

Leadership: Oliphant Cartoons and Sculpture From the Bush Years Through July 15 at the Stanford in Washington Art Gallery, 2655 Connecticut Ave. NW (Metro: Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan). 202-332-6235. Open Monday-Friday 9 to 7; Saturday-Sunday noon to 6. Free.

Actually, although the exhibit is about three miles from their main building, they ran an AP article yesterday. See "Herblock lampoons the presidents again" By Brett Zongker - ASSOCIATED PRESS, Washington Times May 22, 2008.

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2006/06-132.html
June 20, 2006
Press contact: Audrey Fischer (202) 707-0022

Editiorial Cartoons By Herblock are Subject of Library Exhibition
Opening July 17

"Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by Herblock" will open on Monday, July 17, in the Southwest Gallery of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C. The exhibition, which will remain on view through Jan. 20, 2007, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday -Saturday, will feature approximately 40 original cartoon drawings by the Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Herbert Block, better known as Herblock.The Herblock exhibition will be a featured display in the reopened "American Treasures of the Library of Congress" exhibition, which will be closed June 18 through July 16.

The Herblock exhibition's main section, "Get Out the Vote,"chronicles elections from 1946 to 1998 and comments on Democratic andRepublican presidential administrations during the same time period. Other sections of the display highlight six major themes of enduring importance to Herblock that continue to resonate in American society today: environment, ethics, extremism, the Middle East, privacy/security and war.

When he died in October 2001, Block left the bulk of his estate to create the Herb Block Foundation to carry on his life's work of championing the cause of social justice. In 2003 the foundation donated the Herbert L. Block archives of editorial cartoons to the Library of Congress, where they are available to both scholars and the general public.

In addition to 14,000 original drawings and more than 2,000 preparatory sketches, the collection includes voluminous files of records, correspondence, clippings and photographs. The donation also provides for display of portions of the collection. This exhibition will mark the debut in a Library of Congress exhibition of Herblock's rough sketches for finished drawings. An online version of the upcoming exhibition will join several previous Library exhibitions ofHerblock's work at www.loc.gov/exhibits.

Herblock was one of the most influential political commentators and editorial cartoonists in American history. His work reflects a dailynewspaper career that spanned much of the 20th century. From April 1929 to August 2001, Herblock chronicled the major social and political events of the nation and the world, summarizing issues others had taken thousands of words to explain in a single 4-by-6-inch drawing. Herblock spent the last 55 years of his career as the editorial cartoonist for The Washington Post.

# # #PR 06-13206/20/06
ISSN 0731-3527