V-J Semisesquicentennial

Surrenderback Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, and I'll warn you right up front that there are going to be a lot of racist depictions of the Japanese in this cartoons. Depictions of Germans in American cartoons were nowhere near as grotesque as those of the Japanese, even by such progressive liberals as Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss, about which there has been plenty written already, so I don't need to add to it).

Coming into August, the American point of view was that Allied victory over Japan was inevitable but that the Japanese government and military refused to admit it.

"'Last Report from the Front' Honorable Sir" by Corte Madera (?), ca. August 9, 1945

Most of the cartoons in this post will be from a handful of U.S. cartoonists, and I'm curious about this first one. It, and some other cartoons I came across, appear to be signed "Corte Madera," which, as far as I have been able to tell, is a small town north of the bay from San Francisco, a command in Spanish to chop wood, and a peculiar name for a parent to have given a child. He (or she) may have been based in Texas, but that's just a guess.

"Is This Trip Necessary?" by Jesse Cargill for King Features, ca. August 9, 1945

The American caricature of the Japanese had him buck-toothed, nearsighted, and addressing others or being labeled as "honorable [such-and-such]" — whether warlord, ancestor, or even earthquake.

"Okay, You Win, in a Blast" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Aug. 10, 1945

Dorman Smith was the conservative cartoonist hired by the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) to replace Herbert Block when the latter moved to the Washington Post. Smith was a much better fit for his right-wing NEA editors, and you won't find any of his cartoons offering any credit to President Truman for bringing the war to an end.

"It Won't Be Long Now" by Cy Hungerford in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 7, 1945

Cyrus Hungerford had been drawing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette since World War I, and would continue there through the Watergate years. This cavalier attitude toward the killing of 80,000 civilians in Hiroshima (to which 40,000 would soon be added in Nagasaki) is by no means unique to Mr. Hungerford or his cartoons.

"The 64-Yen Question" by Harold Talburt in Washington Daily News, Aug. 6, 1945

Had the Axis Powers exploded a nuclear bomb over an Allied city, it would have been proof of German or Japanese barbarism. One American cartoon after another, however, proclaims that however horrific this new bomb was, the carnage was all the fault of Japan's leaders for, as Harold Talburt put it, continued resistance.

"Coffin Nails" by Harold Talburt in Washington Daily News, Aug. 7, 1945

As anyone who lived through the war will tell you, pursuing a conventional conclusion to the war instead of bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides. 

"The Old One-Two" by Melville Bernstein in PM, New York NY, Aug. 9, 1945

A more sanguine reason was that the Soviet Union had just entered the war against Japan, and the Truman administration was loath to allow a Russian occupation zone in Japan as it had accepted in Germany.

"There's Not Room for This and You..." by Jim Berryman in Washington Evening Star, Aug. 7 1945

None of which is to say that cartoonists were oblivious to the long-term implications of such a weapon of mass destruction. The atomic bomb is held by Peace in Jim Berryman's cartoon, forcing War to think twice about intruding into her laboratory ever again.

"It May Do What Nothing Else Could Do" by Dorman Smith for NEA, ca. Aug. 11, 1945

Dorman Smith draws the A-bomb no bigger than a bottle of wine, yet it seems to be enough to get Mr. Globe-head to swear off war for good. Perhaps the bottle of wine is an apt metaphor; "Never again" is a familiar vow on many a morning after the night before.

"Rather Terrifying, Isn't It?" by Cy Hungerford in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 8, 1945

Cy Hungerford's nuclear genie is more fearsome than Dorman Smith's wine bottle; he also acknowledges that our allies may have been impressed, but not altogether favorably.

"God's Atomic Power" by Cy Hungerford in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Aug. 15, 1945

Nevertheless, with the announcement of Japan's acceptance of Allied surrender terms on August 15, Hungerford returned to the optimistic jingoism that has long proclaimed the U.S. as God's divine instrument on Earth.

"After Effect of the Atomic Bomb" by Jim Berryman in Washington Evening Star, Aug. 11, 1945

The just and lasting peace would last for just five years.

"We Are Going to Win the Peace, Too" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Sunday Star, Aug. 12, 1945

Jim Berryman's father, Clifford Berryman, continued drawing front-page editorial cartoons for the Sunday edition of the Washington Star until 1949; the son held forth on the front page the rest of the week.

Jim Berryman in Washington Evening Star, Aug. 15, 1945

"And so, unavoidably, came peace, putting an end to organized war as we'd come to know it." ― Beyond the Fringe

"A New Experience for the All Highest" by Dorman Smith for NEA, ca. Aug. 17, 1945

Uncaptioned, by Melville Bernstein in PM, NY, Aug. 15, 1945