Herbert Block (1909–2001)

3 1/s stars: Good

From the back cover: For more than half a century, the inimitable cartoons of Herblock have been making Americans laugh while making generations of politicians squirm. Now, Herblock’s many readers can finally meet the man behind the drawing board who tells insightful and often hilarious anecdotes. In his humorous and inventive cartooning, Herblock warned of isolationism in the ‘30s and of nuclear hazards in the ‘40s, coined the term “McCarthyism” in the ‘50s, and inveighed against racism in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He skewered Nixon until his resignation and has zinged every president since.

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I initially wasn’t certain if this book would meet the “50 page rule” for me. It did—and I’m certainly glad I hung on, as I give it a solid “good”. Herblock was cartooning from Roosevelt through George W. Bush era (this book written in Clinton era). In particular what I feel struck me was the view of being at a newspaper; an era that is nearly gone today. I’ve read many journalist bios, but this view of a cartoonist who worked 6 days a week, always on top of the latest news, sometimes having the battle the editorial slant of the outlet he worked for, was unique and interesting to me. Particularly his anecodotes of literally waiting in an office to be fired when he was told he received his first Pulitzer (he wasn’t fired) and his coining of the phrase McCarthyism, interested me. Perhaps most compelling was seeing, in cartoon form, the same issues that we are dealing with today. They are merely wrapped up with different outer layers and come with different names. The fight must always continue.

A number of quotes to remember:

If a person could not stop an expanding communism abroad, he could scapegoat and destroy people at home. If you couldn’t rub out a Russkie, you could nail a neighbor.

McCarthy and the Eisenhower administration policies destroyed the careers of government experts on Asia—whose expertise itself made them suspect. Their knowledge might have helped prevent the Vietnam debacle.

‘Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord Ike’s soul to keep. If Ike should die before I wake, I pray He also Nixon take.’ [that’s for my mum who hated Nixon-LT].

The JFK press conferences were always worth attending or watching on television. When the Supreme Court ruled against prayer rituals in the public schools, there immediately arose a wail that God was being driven out of our children’s schools. Responding to a question on the subject, Kennedy dryly observed that fortunately there were alternatives, like praying in churches, praying at home, etc. He could also add that individual silent prayer has never been—and couldn’t be—prohibited anywhere.

[Discussing the 1963 March on Washington, which he attended] It was a time when people came together for civil rights and we all shared a dram, and we joined hands in singing ‘we shall overcome’.

Another Midwestern visitor was a lively young woman from Wisconsin named Eppie Lederer. She came to Washington and dropped in at the Post from time to time because she was interested in everything that was going on. One of the things going on was the performance of the junior senator from her state, Joseph McCarthy. She was outspokenly opposed to him and worked tirelessly for his defeat. She later shared her views and insights with many more people when she began writing for the Chicago Sun-Times under the name Ann Landers.

Since his 1974 resignation, there have been periodic Nixon rehabilitations, often advance by magazines and TV programs that apparently found they could tap a public fascination similar to the interest in chainsaw massacres and bloodsucking bats.

Beauty is in the eye of the TV camera. So is truth and strength. Whereas Jimmy Carter came across as something of a wimp. Reagan stood tall and sounded forceful. Yet Carter, for all his faults and Sundayschoolishness, stood for human rights.

When a White House lunch [put on by Reagan] was put on for some cartoonists, ‘Doonesbury’ creator Garry Trudeau and I were not invited—a precedent followed with the same omissions, by President Bush. If the lunch non-invites were supposed to embarrass us, they didn’t. .. When I had dinner with Jules Feiffer a week or so later, it turned out that he had been invited and not accepted. It was a decision I was spared.

I was really ticked off by the view of some legislators that the country could not stand another “failed presidency”. I am boggled by the concern about “failed presidencies”—as if the person temporarily occupying the White House is some kind of holy icon more important than the Constitution of the nation. What I think the country cannot stand is failed justice and failure to demand that officials uphold their oath of office.

Among all the political scandals, one that really threw me—but didn’t seem to get much attention—involved a congressman passing out money on the floor of Congress. I did the congressman cartoon—only exaggerating the lack of envelopes and leaving out the name of the congressman. It was Gingrich’s lieutenant John Boehner who actually distributed tobacco money on the floor of Congress.

The Post’s separation of advertising and circulation from news and editorial policies was so complete that I have also heard of incidents where it suffered more important ad losses without a peep to the newsroom or editorial departments. The same separation has applied to investigative and critical pieces about people who are personal friends of the editor or publisher. This is the kind of policy that has made The Post a great newspaper.… (lisätietoja)

A brilliant artist tells it like it was, with sparkling humor. Good insights into five decades of American history. Inside-the-Beltway gossip about American movers and shakers.

Herblock had a sharp pen, considering that he hobnobbed with the people he satirized. He often encountered them at Washington dinners and parties. That could have been awkward, but he was not afraid of the powerful. President Lyndon Johnson said of him, “Oh, he’ll come over and eat your cookies, but then he’ll go back and draw a cartoon giving you hell the next day.” It was a distinction to catch hell from Herblock; his victims sometimes even requested the original cartoons.

His cartoons present a liberal point of view, but no prominent politician was safe from Herblock’s pen. He had no sacred cows. He knew lots of celebrities. The reader will enjoy his anecdotes about fellow cartoonists, authors, journalists, even movie stars. Political cartooning is hard work and Herblock excelled at it for half a century. This book suggests that he enjoyed every minute of it!

A fun read, especially for history buffs and political junkies. Lavishly illustrated with you know what. There is also a photo section.… (lisätietoja)