RFK, 50 Years On

This Tuesday will mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Somberback Saturday brings you a round-up from the pens of cartoonists from half a century ago.

"New Kid in the Neighborhood" by Alfred Buescher for King Features, May, 1968

Just to put things in context: Kennedy and Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy had entered the 1968 presidential race as the more liberal alternatives to incumbent President Lyndon Johnson. When LBJ withdrew from the race at the end of March, his Vice President, Hubert Humphrey (who should have had plenty of liberal cred of his own, but was tainted by association with Johnson's war in Vietnam) stepped in as the favored candidate of the Democratic establishment.

The Democratic nomination was still up for grabs when Kennedy won the California primary on June 5. After giving a victory speech to his supporters in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, he started through the kitchen toward the press room but was shot three times by Sirhan Bishir Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian. (Yes, I know that RFK Jr. thinks that Sirhan was innocent. George Plympton is no longer with us, but someone can ask Rosey Grier or Rafer Johnson who it was that they wrestled the gun away from.)

Kennedy died of his injuries some 25 hours later at the age of 42.

"The Brothers' Tragic Reunion" by Cy Hungerford in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 7, 1968

America and the world were in shock. Robert's brother, President John Kennedy, had been assassinated only five years earlier; and this was the second major assassination in the U.S. in only two months — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's killer had not even been caught yet. (James Earl Ray would be apprehended in London a few days after Bobby Kennedy's death.)

"Bookmarks" by Bill Mauldin in Chicago Sun Times, June 6, 1968

I'm sure that Cy Hungerford was not the only cartoonist to draw the "Tragic Reunion" of two of Joe Kennedy Sr.'s sons, but Bill Mauldin's cartoon is more representative of the craft. What I'm finding is that by and large, cartoonists and editorial writers went to their drawing boards and typewriters to argue that RFK's assassination, as horrible as it was, bespoke a larger problem in the United States.

"He Must Be Stopped," possibly by Ted Shearer in Baltimore Afro-American, June 8, 1968

In the above cartoon, Ted Shearer (I'm confident that he was an editorial cartoonist for the Afro-American chain of newspapers, although I can only speculate whether he drew any particular cartoon) listed seven leaders murdered in just over five years. His scorecard leaves room for more, but there isn't enough space in the entire cartoon to list all the other victims of gun violence in the 50 years since.

"Tell Me Again about Keeping the World Safe for Democracy" by Pat Oliphant in Denver Post, June, 1968

Pat Oliphant mused mordantly on what American soldiers fighting in the jungles of Vietnam must have thought of the violence back home.

Our soldiers were not the only ones overseas taking notice.

"American Folklore: Choose Your Candidate" by Rob "Opland" Wout in De Vollskrant, Amsterdam, June, 1968

Time magazine described the rest of the world's perception of the U.S. as "a blood-drenched, continent-wide shooting range where toddlers blast off with real rifles, housewives pack pearl-handled revolvers, and political assassins stalk their victims at will." "America dreamed of a government of judges, but it suffers the law of violent people," declared Le Monde of Paris, where violent protests mere days before had nearly brought down the DeGaulle government.

"Violence" by John Yardley-Jones in Toronto Telegram, June, 1968

As it turned out, the assassin was an immigrant born in Jordan acting on behalf of a conflict halfway around the world from the U.S. According to Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty, Sirhan Sirhan's diary revealed that he was determined to kill Kennedy by June 5, the first anniversary of the Six-Day War in which Israel had occupied the West Bank, Golan Heights, and Sinai peninsula.

"Always There Is a Black Spot in Our Sunshine..." by Stanley Franklin in Daily Mirror, London, June, 1968

Yet I came across no editorial cartoons illustrating the Mideast connection to the assassination; granted, I didn't check Ha'aretz, Ad-Dustour, or any other journal directly concerned. The Montreal Star glossed over the Palestinian connection and faulted U.S. racial injustices instead:

"It did not matter if Senator Kennedy's assailant was first believed to be a Mexican, and then a Cuban and then an Arab. The fact remains that in Harlem and Watts and every other Negro community... [assassins] exist as perpetual enemies, while the one figure who might have provided hope was removed forcibly from the arena."

Untitled, by Andy Donato in Toronto Telegram, June, 1968

Overwhelmingly, the Mideast Conflict and U.S. racial injustice took a back seat to The Gun as the root cause of America's tragedy. From within and without our borders came the demand for the U.S. to control its mass of weapons of destruction. And as has become depressingly predictable, the National Rifle Association, the 100,000-member strong enablers of our national nightmare, leapt into the fray to prevent any meaningful action from being taken.

"The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed" by Frank Benier in The Sun, London, June, 1968 

Guns don't kill people, only outlaws will have guns, registration leads to confiscation — any argument against gun control you have ever heard was already cliché in 1968. Supreme Court precedent still held that the first half of the Second Amendment established that it was about a collective right rather than an individual privilege, so the N.R.A. concentrated on the amendment's second half. (Republican majorities on the Court have since erased that "well-regulated militia" silliness.)

"How's Business?" by John Pierotti in New York Post, June, 1968

Time estimated the American arsenal to include anywhere from 50 million to 200 million handguns, shotguns, rifles, plus "uncounted machine guns, hand grenades, bazookas, mortars, even antitank guns." 3 million more were sold every year, 2 million of them by mail order sales. Some of those sales were driven by white fear of the urban riots breaking out in the 1960's, to say nothing of the lucrative market selling directly to the gangs and criminals White America was afraid of.

"In Cold Blood" by Paul Conrad in Los Angeles Times, June, 1968

The National Rifle Association had successfully quashed every attempt to regulate America's unregulated militia even after President Kennedy's assassination. Congress did manage to pass a ban on mail-order handguns, but President Johnson scoffed that the bill was a "watered-down" half-way measure.

"I Just Don't Know What This Country Is Coming To" by Herb Block in Washington Post, June, 1968

A number of Senators who had bent to the N.R.A.'s will in the wake of Rev. King's assassination, such as Hugh Scott (R-PA), Warren Magnuson (D-WA), Bill Proxmire and Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), Ed Muskie (D-ME), Mike Monroney (D-OK), and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT), indicated support of a measure by Joseph Tydings (D-MD) to require licensing and registration for the purchase of a gun.

"So You Heard Another Shot..." by Bill Sanders in Milwaukee Journal, June 6, 1968

The Senate failed to pass the Firearms Registration and Licensing Act, and the N.R.A. successfully drove Tydings out of office in 1970.

Even among liberals, however, there was a recognition that America had a problem not just with guns, but with a culture that glorified violence.

"Make Your Move, Ringo..." by Jules Feiffer for Publishers-Hall Syndicate, June, 1968

As case in point — and because it's the only way to end this blog post on a somewhat lighter note — I have to bring you the climax of a story in "Dick Tracy" on the comics page that very same week. Sharing the page with Charlie Brown and Miss Peach, Chester Gould's police detective literally vaporized a criminal mastermind and a yacht full of henchmen and bathing beauties who had schemed to steal a shipment of gold bars from Diet Smith's mines on the moon. (You read that right.) Gould's moral in Friday's episode struck many readers, and not a few editors, as being the credo of assassins and terrorists:

"Dick Tracy" by Chester Gould in Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1968

Several papers, such as the Seattle Times and Greensboro News, deleted the strip that day or dropped the feature entirely.

Any counter-protests from the National Laser Association fell on deaf ears.

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On second thought, there is a better way to end this post, and that is with a few words from Robert Kennedy's final speech to the crowd at the Ambassador Hotel:

"What I think is quite clear is that we can work together in the last analysis, and that what has been going on within the United States over the period of the last three years — the divisions, the violence, the disenchantment with our society — the divisions, whether it's between Blacks and Whites, between the poor and the more affluent, or between age groups, or on the war in Vietnam — that we can start to work together. We are a great country, an unselfish country, a compassionate country."

European Cartoonists on World War I

Sulfurback Saturday turns our attention to some political cartoons from continental Europe during World War I. I've normally been trying to bring up the cartoons in this series at roughly the same point in the year now as they appeared 100 years ago, but that isn't always possible with European cartoons published in the United States. There would often be months of delay between their continental and American appearances.

This first cartoon, for example, which appeared in Cartoons magazine in 1918, appears to be dated 1916. 

"Their Arms" by Pierre Falke in Le Rire,Paris. 1916?

You'll find right away that not all humor necessarily translates well to English. I took seven years of French in school and college, and I don't know of anything inherently funny in "Je vous donnerai ma bouteille de vitriol." Use of vitriol, a.k.a. sulfuric acid, as a weapon has always been the territory of vengeful ex-lovers and radical Luddites; but despite the widespread use of mustard gas (another acidic sulfur compound) in World War I, I can't find any reference to vitriol being standard issue to soldiers in the trenches. The 3rd-Century Persian-Roman War maybe, but not World War I.

I've posted a lot of Simplicissimus cartoons in this series to include a German point of view about the war, so in the interest of getting to some other countries, I'll limit myself to one German cartoon today. Gustav Brandt, drawing for the staid Kladderadatch of Berlin, assays to base a pun on his country's U-boat blockade of Great Britain. (At least, I assume the original German caption has a pun in it somewhere; there is no beginning "U" in "Ich bin verbraucht.")

"The Ruler of the Waves" by Gustav Brandt in Kadderadatch, Berlin.

Beatty, by the way, was Admiral of the British Fleet, First Earl David Richard Beatty. Brandt's cartoon is not a particularly good likeness; there is a bust of Beatty at Trafalgar Square.

"Uncovering of War Objects" in Nebelspalter, Zurich. 

Nebelspalter tended to support the Central Powers in World War I, but this cartoon includes a German and an Austrian in the foreground of the cartoon as well as French, Italian, British and Russian leaders, all hesitant to unveil their goals for the war. The absence of any American suggests this cartoon dates from before the U.S. declaration of war in 1917. It must have been drawn after Italy, here represented by little Victor Emmanuel III (right of center), entered the war in April, 1915.

"President Wilson, Peace Angel" in Hollandsche Revue, January or February, 1918?

Continuing with another cartoon from a neutral country, I suppose this cartoon from the Netherlands probably first appeared upon U.S. entry into the war in 1917, rather than the date I've put in the cut line.

"Fine alla ... Fine!" by Gabriele "Rata Langa" Galanta in L'Asino, Rome, October 21, 1917

From Italy come three strongly anti-German cartoons. Gabriele Galanta's anticolonialist sympathies had put him at odds with his fellow co-founder of L'Asino, Guido Podrecca, and with the Italian government during the Italo-Turkish war of 1911; but his liberal views led him to favor Italy's siding with democratic France over imperial Germany and Austria, and to produce one cartoon after another against "la barbarie teutonica."

L'Asino's opposition to fascism, however, meant that their magazine would not be around to comment on World War II.

"Il Risultato Finale Rimane Invariato" by Tonv (?) in Il 420, Florence, Italy, January, 1918

Il 420, on the other hand, fully supported Mussolini before and during WWII, but that's getting way ahead of the scope of this blog post. I haven't been able to find anything out about their cartoonist, who appears to have signed his work "Tonv"; googling "420" brings up a lot of material about stuff completely unrelated to the Italian weekly magazine.

Update: "Tony" was the pen name of cartoonist Giove Toppi. --PB  

The banners I can make out behind the Kaiser in the above cartoon read "Death to the Kaiser" and "Mutiny"; it was in January, 1918 that Entente media were reporting dissent and rebellion among the German people.

"Qui Glace il Re Dei Cuochi..." by Tonv in il 420, Florence, January, 1918

During a conference with the German press in January 1918, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg was asked to address the fear that there would be no food in Germany by May of that year. Hindenburg reportedly dismissed those concerns, saying, "My reply is that by next April I shall be in Paris." His boast was met with scorn and ridicule in the Entente press; several American and British cartoonists dubbed it an April Fool's joke on Hindenburg.

Moving on to the situation in Russia, we first have this Polish cartoon, published in exile in Moscow:

"No, My Dear..." in Mucha, Moscow, January, 1918

Apparently, Turkish humor completely flouts the idea that brevity is the soul of wit. The Russian cossack is crushed under a rock labeled "Germany"; the Turk over the horizon explains in detail why he's laughing at the Entente powers trying to lift it. (Is the one in blackface supposed to be American?)

"Hey!..." in Karagnios, Constantinople (Istanbul), January or February 1918

The Russian cartoonists of Novy Satirikon were no less critical of their domestic situation, but considerably more succinct.

"Defenders of the Revolution" in Novy Satirikon, Petrograd (St. Petersburg), 1917

The Bolsheviks were in charge in St. Petersburg, but not without challenge from Mensheviks and liberals in the capital and tsarist loyalists in the steppes.

"Русская жопа" in Novy Satirikon, January, 1918

I'm told that in a Russian fable, a donkey can't decide between two masters and starves to death. It seems not to be one of Krilof's fables as far as I can find (be careful when googling "russian ass two masters"); but if there's a donkey in a Russian fable, it usually ends up dead. So let's just concede that the fable indeed exists, lest some Turkish pasha show up to expound upon his reaction to it.

The Red Guards were the commies, of course; the Savage Division (Дикая дивизия) of the Russian Cavalry consisted of Muslim horsemen from Chechenya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Karachay, Circassia, Kabardinia and Azerbaijan under the command of Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov, brother of the deposed tsar. Their track record of backing the losers in the February Revolution, Kornilov Affair in August, and October Revolution led to their being disbanded in 1918.

"At Last" in Novy Satirikon, Petrograd (St. Petersburg), 1918

Meanwhile, back in the capitalist West, let's close with one cartoon from neutral Denmark, where Peace is an angel named Fred.

"Patriotiske Spekulant" in Ravnen, Copenhagen, in February or March of 1918.

August, 1916: Putting a Smile in the War

Sashayback Saturday returns yet once more to the cartoon pages of World War I a century ago this month. Having no particular urge this week to devote a great deal of time to my usual research, I was delighted to discover that the August 28, 1916 issue of The Independent magazine included a whole page of European cartoons under this banner:

So here are all six of them with a minimum of explanation. Embiggen at will. This one is from an uncredited cartoonist in neutral Netherlands, characterizing the war as a sort of dance of nations:

"The European Quadrille" by an unnamed cartoonist in Die Amsterdamer, Amsterdam, August, 1916

Calling the dance in the cartoon is Marshal Joseph Jacques Césaire "Papa" Joffre, Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the western front.

I'd characterize the remaining cartoons as less editorial and more topical.

Mauryce Motet in Le Pele-Mele, Paris, August, 1916

Nowadays, we call the wall "distressed," and consider it quaint and picturesque.

"Prepared" by A.E. Horne in Today, London, August, 1916

If you were closer to the front lines, you might not think chemical warfare was quite so funny. Better to poke fun at the food shortages reputed to be rife on the other side of the trenches:

"The Obliging Mirror" by E. Brod in Le Pele-Mele, Paris, August, 1916

German food shortages likewise surely seemed the safe topic for this Polish/Russian cartoonist -- although, as I've noted before, Russian cartoons just ain't funny.

"A Dire Dilemma," by Mucha, "Moscow, late of Warsaw," August, 1916

But the Allies had shortages too; the difference being that the British could have a sense of humor about it (as long as they could apply some national stereotype to the joke):

"In These Hard Times" by A.E. Horne in The Passing Show, London, August, 1916

Q Toon: The Plane in Ukraine

Since the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 over eastern Ukraine, apparently by a Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile fired by pro-Russian separatists, the Russian government and media and their minions have been working hard to supply alternative theories for the tragedy.

One of the more outlandish stories circulating on the Russian side is that MH 370, the Malaysian jet that disappeared somewhere in the Indian Ocean, was actually captured by the United States, and all its passengers and crew killed and drained of their blood, so that the U.S. could secretly have the plane full of corpses and explosives take off from the Netherlands with a crew that parachuted to safety while the plane continued on autopilot to be detonated over Donetsk. (Reported by Julia Ioffe of the New Republic.) This apparently springs from the claims of a separatist leader, Igor Girkin, quoted by the website Russkaya Vesna.

So far, Putin has tried to deflect blame onto the Ukrainian government, not teh gayz. But it's not such a stretch to imagine that he could cast aspersions our way if it suited his purposes. He previously claimed that the protesters who brought down the previous Ukraine regime are "gay nazis," and his government has done much over that past few years to criminalize gays.

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On another point in this cartoon, the fog of war made it difficult to nail down a number of what I chose to call "health experts" who died on their way to the HIV/AIDS conference in Austrailia. I hoped that "health experts" was general enough to include medical professionals, activists, and reporters who may only have intended to observe the conference. The initial number I heard reported was 100-- over a third of MH 17's passengers.

Subsequent reports used the vague term "dozens"; after I had sent the cartoon to my editors, I saw a report that said there were six. So I apologize for my part in perpetuating what is almost certainly an example of hyperbole borne of the heat of the moment.

This Week's Q Syndicate Cartoon

Retired General John Sheehan testified in front of the Senate Armed Services last week, alleging that back in 1995, the Dutch contingent of NATO peacekeeping soldiers at Srebrenica, Bosnia, were neutralized by Serbian militia; his reason for this was that the Dutch military allows gay soldiers to serve openly and honestly. Serbs slaughtered 8,000 Bosnian men and boys in the most horrific single incident of genocide in Europe since World War II.

Senators were dumbfounded, and the Dutch have taken great umbrage in General Sheehan's testimony:

In a statement, Dutch Ambassador Renée Jones-Bos said, "I take pride in the fact that lesbians and gays have served openly and with distinction in the Dutch military forces for decades, such as in Afghanistan at the moment."

"The military mission of Dutch U.N. soldiers at Srebrenica has been exhaustively studied and evaluated, nationally and internationally," Jones-Bos said. "There is nothing in these reports that suggests any relationship between gays serving in the military and the mass murder of Bosnian Muslims."

Investigations have found that the Dutch contingent in Bosnia was poorly trained and equipped, but even the officer cited by Sheehan as the source of the idea that allowing gay (and unionized) soldiers in the Dutch military facilitated the massacre has issued a denial:

Gen. Henk van den Breemen, Dutch chief of staff at the time of the Srebrenica genocide, called Sheehan's comments "total nonsense" and denied ever having suggested gays in the army might have played a role in the Srebrenica massacre.

--(Quotations from the Washington Post.)