Flights of Frozen Fancy

This week's Graphical History Tour celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first flights over the North Pole by people who weren't puffins.

"Over the Top" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, May 11, 1926

U.S. newspapers excitedly reported that Admiral Richard E. Byrd became the first explorer to fly over the North Pole on May 9, 1926. Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett announced that they had flown their tri-motor monoplane, the Josephine Ford (named after Edsel Ford's daughter) from Spitsbergen, Norway, circling the pole in a nearly 16-hour flight.

According to Byrd's account written for the New York Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"I took my calculations and found that we were at the Pole. We reached it at 9:04 Greenwich time, just about the hour we had hoped to get there. Bennett and I shook hands simply, and went back to the cabin, stood at attention and saluted for Admiral Peary. The Navy had reached the pole again, the blessed old Navy. I did not drop an American flag. Peary had done that.

"The ice and snow were similar to that which Peary had described, but the ice was not the same as in the polar sea. There it is in constant motion. It was slightly rougher here than it had been when I first described it, but criss crossed in the same way.

"We flew several miles further, circled and then took some still and motion pictures. As we flew there at the top of the world, circumnavigating it in a few minutes' of flight, I regretted that we had not found land, and that our leaky oil tank would prevent our returning by way of Cape Morris-Jessup."

"The Eagle Over the Pole" by Wm. A. Rogers in Washington Post, May 11, 1926

Byrd was an instant American Hero in the press, and editorial cartoonists rushed to crank out jingoistic cartoons, most of them very similar to each other.

"Our Private Flag Pole" by Roy James in St. Louis Star, May 11, 1926

Aside from the flags and eagles, a commonality that strikes me in these cartoons is that nearly all of them show North Pole as a huge inverted icicle, rather than the barber pole that I think of as cartoon cliché. This is only a guess, but the striped pole with the ball on top must have been popularized later.

"The First Over the Top" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, May 11, 1926

John McCutcheon celebrated the news of Byrd's flight as a relief from all the dismal news he was typically faced with — although by bringing up political scandals, wars in Morocco and Syria, labor strife in London, a riot in Paris, and a rum-running ring in New York, McCutcheon was being the wet blanket at the party himself.

"The Hurdle Race" by Dean O'Dell in Dayton Daily News, May 13, 1926

Meanwhile, Norwegian aviator Roald Amundsen was also heading for the North Pole in a semi-rigid airship christened the Norge. The Italian-made airship was delayed by weather on each leg of its journey from Rome, but eventually headed north from Vadsø, Norway on May 11 with a crew of 18 men and one dog.

"Fremdenverkehr" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, May 30, 1926

The Norge crossed the North Pole at 1:25 a.m. GMT on May 12, dropping U.S., Norwegian, and Italian flags onto the ice. In Amundsen's account published by the New York Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"[W]e went down to a low height, slowed the engines, and [engineer/financier Lincoln] Ellsworth, [pilot Umberto] Nobile and myself dipped our countries' flags. We mounted banners on steel-pointed rods. These rods we steered vertically into the ice as we dropped them, and they remained standing. The crew took their caps off during the ceremony, and it was a beautiful sight to see the flags standing against the glittering snow."

I have colorized the flags in Arthur Johnson's cover cartoon; the copy scanned by the University of Heidelberg appears to have faded considerably. His version of the Norwegian flag somewhat resembles the obsolete Norway-Sweden union flag, except that the faded blue broken bar that I have darkened ought to be yellow, and a black cross in that quadrant of the flag is missing altogether. 

The airship, its propellers damaged by shards of ice during its flight, suffered further damage as it landed at Teller, Alaska. It was dismantled there, short of its announced goal of Nome, and shipped back to Italy; it was never repaired.

"Die 'Norge' Zurück" by Wilhelm Schulz in Simplicissimus, Munich, June 7, 1926

Wilhelm Schulz lampoons Italy's involvement in the flight of the Norge, and perhaps the fate of the airplane itself, depicting an expedition member presenting Benito Mussolini with a helmetful of melted ice. 

Italian hubris over its part in the journey was a valid target for satire. Somewhat contrary to his newspaper account, Amundsen was peeved that the Italian flag dropped at the pole by Nobile was larger than the Norwegian and American flags, and that Nobile continued to drop so many other flags that Amundsen later complained of Nobile turning the Norge "a circus wagon of the skies." Mussolini sent Nobile on a speaking tour of the United States to tout the genius of Italian engineering, putting Amundsen's nose further out of joint.

"Amundsen am Nordpol" by Garvens in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, May 30, 1926

In German cartoons, at any rate, Amundsen was the star of the show. Berlin cartoonist Garvens gave us something other than an inverted icicle at the north pole: some sort of pepper-, nut-, or coffee-grinder.

As for the caption, it must be a play on the name of Admiral Byrd. My best, albeit wild guess is that un-byrdlich might be a pun on unberührt, untouched; while that might explain the open tin and the eaten sardines, that cactus remains a mystery.

"Another of the Great Silent Places Opens to the Tourist" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, May 11, 1926

"Ding" Darling's cartoon makes a similar point for us English-speaking readers. The aviators in the cartoon have left behind not just empty sardine tins, but also empty Uneeda Biscuit boxes, a spent campfire, and graffiti on the pole itself, while planning to "bring the folks up here some day for a picnic."

"Men Must Be Men to Wrestle with Me" by Ernest R. McTaggart in Vancouver Daily Province, British Columbia, May 15, 1926

I am duty-bound to point out that the general consensus since Admiral Byrd's death in 1957 is that he could not possibly have flown his trimotor monoplane, with its maximum speed of 85 mph, from Spitsbergen to the North Pole and back in sixteen hours. 

There is evidence that his flight records were erased and modified. Yet even though doubts of Byrd's claims were raised not long after he landed, he was still awarded the National Medal of Honor and celebrated with a New York ticker tape parade.

Toon: You Can't Miss It

In their continuing mission to feed Donald Commodus Trump's bottomless ego, the bootlicking sycophants of the Absolutely Corrupt Trump Regime™ announced this week that U.S. passports (required by the SAVE Act if you want to exercise your right to vote) will now be adorned with Dear Leader's scowling face.

This is on top of adding his scraggly signature to paper currency, minting gold coins bearing his likeness, tacking his name above John F. Kennedy's at the Kennedy Center, proposing a fleet of so-called Trump class battleships, and unfurling ginormous banners of his puss (when you're a star they let you do that) outside every government building in D.C.

Not to mention the Arc de Trump and that goddamn Gaudy Ballroom, intended as permanent monuments to the nation's shame for having elected such a preening peacock, not once, but twice.

Even Hitler, Mussolini, and Kim Jong Un never put their faces on German, Italian, or North Korean  passports.

I'm so glad I renewed my passport last year.

Q Toon: Early Indications

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was a guest on Stephen Colbert's show recently — it seems that there is a different Democratic politician on every night trying to get their fare-thee-wells in before CBS pulls Colbert's plug — and was asked about the possibility of his running for president in 2028.

It's too early for Democrats to declare candidacies for president, and Colbert acknowledged as much in his question, so Buttigieg naturally did not throw his metaphorical hat in the proverbial ring on late-night television. I nevertheless see a lot of his posts on my social media feed, even more than those of Gavin Newsom.

That's the fault of Al Gorithm, I suppose. Al and I have never met, but he seems to think he knows a lot about me.

Anyway, Mr. Buttigieg tells us that his main priority these days is getting Democrats elected to office around the country. That's the sort of thing a former Secretary of Transportation and small-city mayor has to do in order to have elected Democrats return one's calls after one launches a presidential campaign.

There isn’t much Buttigieg can do in the present Gerrymandering War, but he has been lending his star power to various congressional candidates. His strategy for helping get Democrats elected also appears to involve a good amount of showing up on TV. 

He certainly has the skills to hold his own against the Republican mouthpieces on Fox Noise. Perhaps he should give Chuck Schumer some lessons.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this little respite from the constant Trump Trump Trump of Invasive, Pervasive, Inescapable, Omnitrumpified Trumpitude.

If not, please tune in again tomorrow.

This Week's Sneak Peek

I did not draw about the latest abortive assassination attempt at the White House Press Corps Dinner last night.

The story does not have an expressly LGBTQ+ angle (well, at least I hope it doesn't), and the only way I could imagine coming up with an editorial cartoon tailored to the LGBTQ+ press about it would be to have a Max & Leo episode in which Leo falls for the notion that it was some sort of staged hoax. And I intend for Leo to be a liberal, but not a gullible one.

Oh, I suppose I could have come up with some brand new LGBTQ or + character watching Breaking News coverage on TV, but we're bound to learn something completely different about the gunman by Thursday rendering moot whatever bon mot I might have them say. We've already gone through the incident being used to promote Trump's Gaudy Ballroom, to Norah O'Donnell asking Trump about the gunmanifesto ranting about a pedophile rapist, to social media debating whether the guy is a registered Republican, Democrat, floor wax, or dessert topping.

Darling Catches Up

Graphical History Tour Inc. couldn't let April get away without celebrating the centennial of J.N. "Ding" Darling's return to the drawing board after a year battling peritonitis.

Jay N. Darling, "Ding," returns to the Register's front page this morning with the first cartoon he has drawn after more than a year's absence. Mr. Darling has completely recovered his health, following the serious illness with peritonitis with which he was stricken March 19, 1925. Ed LeCocq, the young cartoonist who substituted for Mr. Darling, will draw cartoons for the Evening Tribune.

"If You Don't Think the World Moves..." by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, April 5, 1926

In Ding's first cartoon upon return, he appears undaunted by the challenge of catching up with the whirlwind of world events since his pen fell silent.

"Things Seem Just About Where We Left Them a Year Ago" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 6, 1926

But one day later, he realized that it was still the 1920's after all. Prohibition was still the law of the land, if not universally observed; the Democratic Party was still out of power and searching for some winning issue; Congress was still promising aid to farmers but not delivering; isolationists were still thwarting Uncle Sam trying to fetch peace off the shelf; and, apparently, President Coolidge was hard at work sawing logs.

Darling approved of Calvin Coolidge, which is why he is the only figure not beset by cobwebs in the cartoon.

"Looks As Though He'd Adopted Something" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 13, 1926

Darling returned to his drawing board just in time for the culmination of Iowa Democrat Daniel Steck's challenge to overturn Republican Senator Smith Brookhart's 1924 election victory.

Brookhart was elected to the Senate in 1922 to fill out the term of William S. Kenyon, and immediately challenged Senate norms, preferring cowhide shoes and overalls to suits and ties. A progressive "radical," he publicly backed Robert La Follette's 1924 presidential campaign over Coolidge's reelection while running for a full Senate term of his own. Republican party leaders withdrew their support over this unforgiveable defection from party loyalty.

Election night returns appeared to indicate that Steck would be the first Democrat elected to the Senate by Iowans since the Civil War; but late results from rural counties gave Brookhart a 754-vote margin of victory. Brookhart was sworn into office on March 4, 1925. 

Steck, backed by the Iowa Republican Party, filed an official challenge with the Senate Committee on Elections and Privileges. On April 12, 1926, 16 Senate Republicans figured they would rather have another Democrat in the minority than Brookhart within their caucus, and joined their 29 Democratic colleagues voting to recognize Steck as the winner of the 1924 election.

Brookhart promptly announced that he would challenge Iowa's Senior Senator, Albert Cummins, in 1928. He did so, successfully.

"First Blood" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Evening Tribune, Apr. 13, 1926

Since "young cartoonist" Ed LeCocq has graced our pixels repeatedly over the past year, I thought it only fair to let him comment on Brookhart's ouster here. I wonder if he had been prepared to draw a glum Miss Democracy in case the Senate vote had gone the other way. His GOP Elephant could have remained disappointed in either event.

LeCocq's editors at the Evening Tribune seemed to view Steck's victory as a portent of Democratic victories yet to come. It wasn't; even the Great Depression couldn't get Steck reelected in 1930.

"To Retrieve the Family Fortunes" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 7, 1926

Getting back to those Things Where We Left Them a Year Ago, the Democratic Governor of New York, Al Smith, was a champion of the "Wets," pushing for loosening, if not repeal, of Prohibition. In the spring of 1926, the Wets proposed decriminalizing beer and "light wines" (5.5-10% Alcohol By Volume), while leaving hard liquor fully illegal.

"Important If True" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 20, 1926

One argument in favor of loosening Prohibition laws was that organized crime was trafficking profitably — and violently — in contraband hooch. It was well known that powerful crime bosses had help from corrupt elected officials, law enforcers, and judges, not to mention otherwise upstanding citizens.

"The Voice of Authority" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 25, 1926

This Darling cartoon points out a powerful force within the "Dry" constituency: the Women's Vote.

Prohibition became law because of a coalition of Progressive social reformers, religious conservatives, Southern Democrats, and wives tired of their husbands coming home drunk all the time.

Moving on to foreign affairs...

"The Audience Will Kindly Refrain from Applause Until the Act Is Over" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 9, 1926

"All There Was" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 10, 1926

The Coolidge administration reached agreements with World War I allies France and Italy for their repayment of war debts to the U.S. Both countries were left heavily damaged after the war, yet many editorial cartoonists and their publishers demanded prompt repayment in full and would settle for nothing less. Darling took a more nuanced view of things.

I really like how, in his cartoon about settling the debt from France, he draws your eye from the oversized trapeze artiste, to the gentleman reaching to catch her, to the Master of Ceremonies on the ground, and finally to the expectant crowd.

"No Wonder the Neighbors Are Beginning to Talk" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, Apr. 23, 1926

Darling stood apart from many of his fellow Republicans in consistently advocating for international cooperation, the Wilson-inspired League of Nations, and the International Court. Resistance to these efforts was especially effective in the U.S. Congress under Republican domination, even when the Coolidge administration was open to them.

By the way, it was another month before Darling resumed drawing cartoons for Collier's. He tweaked one of the above cartoons for this last one.

"Putting It Up to Papa" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Collier's, May 29, 1926

Q Toon: Breaking Bad News to the Boss

The Absolutely Corrupt Trump Regime™ was dealt a setback in its persecution campaign against transgender Americans last week. A federal judge in Oregon rejected in no uncertain terms Health & Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.'s new policy threatening to block Medicare and Medicaid funding from any hospital that offers gender reassignment therapy to transgender youth who want it.

At least 40 hospital systems across the country had halted gender therapy services after the Department of Health and Human Services issued the "Kennedy Declaration" on December 18, 2025; as a result, even families who had left transgender-hostile red states for transgender-friendly blue ones found that their children were still denied proper care.

“Unserious leaders are unsafe. There is nothing more serious than our leaders’ dedication to the rule of law so that we might maintain the integrity of our constitutional democracy,” [U.S. District Judge Mustafa T.] Kasubhai wrote.

“This case demonstrates how disregard for the rule of law does not merely result in an abstract infraction. Rather, and tragically, this case is one of a long list of examples of how a leader's wanton disregard for the rule of law causes very real harm to very real people.”

Ruling in favor of the 21 states* and the District of Columbia who filed suit against the Kennedy Declaration, Judge Kasubhai found that it exceeded the administration’s authority, violated federal rulemaking requirements, and conflicted with existing law, "effectively banning by fiat an entire category of healthcare."

Judge Kasubhai's 49-page decision rejected as "absurd" the HHS contention that reversing the Kennedy Declaration would deny the Secretary his right to express his views on important public issues. 

"Defendants cannot bully or gaslight this Court into ignoring the many procedural and legal flaws of the Kennedy Declaration by invoking one of the most sacred principles of our constitutional democracy — the freedom of speech — when that principle comes nowhere close to being implicated. Rather, Plaintiffs' claims challenge Kennedy's authority to unilaterally, categorically, and without any process, supersede professional standards of care regarding gender-affirming care that apply in the Plaintiff states."

A higher Court (ahem) might have five or six more charitable opinions of an unserious leader's wanton disregard for the rule of law. But for now, let's enjoy our successes and liberties while we still have them.

_____________

* The 21 states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

 

This Week's Sneak Peek

This is my first attempt to caricature TV's Mehmet Oz, currently in charge of the Absolutely Corrupt Trump Regime™'s administration of Medicaid and Medicare Services. Were you able to recognize him before checking out his necktie?

My Better Half tells me that I've drawn RFK Jr. too flatteringly (three times in this week's cartoon, more recognizably in the first panel than this one). In case there might be any confusion, there's always the brain worm peeking out from his ear to help the casual reader identify him.