Thanksgiving Leftovers

For Stuffingback Saturday today, we have Thanksgiving leftovers of a sort, with hopes that your fourth Thursday of November was a pleasant one, with plenty of inspiration for the giving of thanks.

In 1916, Thanksgiving fell on the last Thursday in November, not necessarily the fourth one; so 100 years ago today, Thanksgiving hadn't happened yet. Here's John McCutcheon's Thanksgiving Day cartoon of November 30, 1916:

"The Face at the Window" by John McCutcheon for Chicago Tribune,  November 30, 1916.

The Face at the Window, of course, being war-torn Europe, where French cartoonist Abel Faivre had drawn this next pathos-laden cartoon not for the American Thanksgiving holiday, but for All Saints' Day at the beginning of the month.

"Where Must I Pray for Papa?" by Abel Faivre in l'Echo, Paris, November 1, 1916

The issue consuming the cartoonists with allied sympathies was Germany's deporting of Belgian citizens to replace German soldiers in the factories and farm fields.

"Are You Ready to Make Munitions for Germany?" by Louis Raemaekers for De Telegraaf, Amsterdam, November, 1916

Use of a whip, rather than a gun, was a leitmotif of American cartoons on the subject.

"To the Step-Fatherland" by Nelson Harding for Brooklyn Eagle, November, 1916

On the other side of the trenches, the German press played up the Allies' lack of significant progress in the war. And, true enough, the Western Front was still well West of die Vaterland.

"Shall We Soon Be on the Rhine?" unsigned for Lustige Blaetter, Berlin, November, 1916

As far as whipping up sentiment against Allied behavior toward neutral countries was concerned, however, German criticism here lacks the punch of Raemaekers's and Harding's work.

"So You Don't Like My Blacklist?" by E.N. for Meggendorfer Blaetter, Munich, November, 1916

Further south, Serbian, French and Russian forces captured Monastir (present-day Bitola, Macedonia) from Bulgaria on November 19. 130,000 allied fighters died in the fighting or from disease while Germans and Bulgarian losses numbered about 61,000. The Monastir Offensive did not prove a decisive defeat of Germany's Balkan allies, and shelling of the city continued throughout the war.

"Back Home" by Clive Weed for Philadelphia Public Ledger, November, 1916

Returning to this side of the pond, we find that Pancho Villa was still pestering the U.S. Army. I've run this cartoon before, and now that we've passed by its 100th birthday, here it is again. More leftovers.

"Breaking In Again" by Sidney Greene for New York Evening Telegram, November, 1916

That's all, folks!

100 Years Ago: Unavoidably Came Peace

Last week's review of 100-year-old editorial cartoons may have left less historically literate readers with the impression that the United States and Mexico went to war in 1916. In order to reassure anyone worried for great-great-grandfather's safety, Stressback Saturday turns to the next page of the Punitive Expeditionary Force story.

"What Just the Sight of the Dentists' Tools Will Do":
Jay "Ding" Darling for the Des Moines Register and Leader

Troops C and K of the 10th Cavalry (Black "Buffalo Soldiers" led by white officers) suffered heavy losses against Venustiano Carranza's army at the Battle of Carrizal on June 21. The Woodrow Wilson administration responded with a massive mobilization of National Guard forces heading toward the border.

The Mexican Army suffered greater casualties at Carrizal than the Americans had. On July 5, Carranza sent a conciliatory note to Washington, promising to turn his army's attention away from the U.S. Army and toward the "bandits" in his own country. In return, he expected U.S. forces not to become a permanent occupation force on his side of the border.

"I Don't Believe I'm Quite as Hungry as I Thought I Was":
Alfred West Brewerton for the Atlanta Journal

As a gesture of good will, Carranza released a number of American soldiers his forces had taken prisoner, further defusing the crisis.

"Hiding the Main Issue": Jonathan H. Cassel for the New York Evening World

It seems that the reports of imminent war were not the only ones that turned out to be slightly exaggerated. Remember the headline splashed across the front page in April heralding the death of Pancho Villa?

"The Dual Personality": Hoffman for Baltimore Star

By July, reports that Mr. Villa was feeling much better could no longer be ignored.

"When He Was Last Seen": G. C. Bronstrup for San Francisco Chronicle

Fullblown war with Mexico, however, was avoided. Forces of the U.S. Punitive Expeditionary Force remained in Colonia Dublán to hold the Carranza government to its promises to capture Pancho Villa; although the Mexican Army failed in that regard, U.S. military activity more or less ceased through the remainder of the year.

"Something Else for Him to Look At": Luther Bradley for Chicago Daily News

While administration cheerleader Luther Bradley's cartoon turned out to be overly optimistic, R. M. Brinkerhoff proves here that you just can't please everybody:

"A False Alarm" by R.M. Brinkerhoff for the New York Evening Mail

Meanwhile, Carranza's newfound common cause with Wilson produced a side effect that would become achingly familiar to the United States in the 20th Century: aid and comfort to an erstwhile enemy.

"What Next?": Jay "Ding" Darling for the Des Moines Register and Leader

This Week in the Mexican Revolution

Salidaback Saturday takes another look at what editorial cartoonists were drawing 100 years ago this week, starting with another cartoon by Sidney Greene published on the same day as the greatly exaggerated report by Mexican Officials above, 100 years ago today:

Sidney Greene for the New York Evening Telegram, April 16, 1916

"Woodrow at Work"

Beclickenating to embiggenify, you'll see that President Wilson is juggling items representing Mexico, German U-boats, the Democratic Party, the Army and the Navy, and "unpreparedness."

The next four cartoons are from Oscar Edward Cesare's work for the New York Sun. "Saluting the Flag," showing Pancho Villa exulting near tombstones reading "Columbus, N.M." (see my March 26 post) and "Veracruz," was drawn for the April 10 edition; this image is from the original drawing at the Library of Congress.

Oscar Cesare for the New York Sun, April 10, 1916. 

"Long Live Liberty!"

In "Line of Succession," appearing in the April 15 edition, the cartoonist turns his attention to the precariousness of Mexico's Provisional President Venustiano Carranza. Carranza stands over the body of deposed President Victoriano Huerta, while Álvaro Obregón, "Gonzales" (perhaps Pablo González Garza), Emiliano Zapata and a presumed line of others come up behind him, daggers drawn.

Oscar Cesare for the New York Sun, April 15, 1916. 

"The Line of Succession"

In this April 17, 1916, cartoon below, Cesare prematurely predicts the overthrow of the Carranza government. Carranza would instead be elected Mexico's President the next year. (He did come to a violent end, however, shot to death on May 21, 1920 — there is dispute whether he was assassinated or committed suicide during the attack. And he was indeed succeeded as President by Obregón, who would eventually also be assassinated; although Cesare neglects in the above cartoon the fact that Obregón had lost his right arm in a bomb blast in 1915.)

Oscar Cesare for the New York Sun, April 17, 1916. 

"Infuriated"

Meanwhile, returning to 1916: Swedish-born Cesare (1885-1948) would lose his job at the Sun later that year when a new owner (a man who earned the epithet "the Executioner of Newspapers") decided that his newspaper didn't need no stinking cartoons. Cesare would go on to draw for the New York Post, New York Times, New York World and Harper's Weekly. Abandoning the more precise pen-and-ink style popular with many editorial cartoonists up to that point (Sid Greene being one example), Cesare's work here shares a looser, sketchier style with such contemporaries as Boardman Robinson and Rollin Kirby. As printing technologies improved, he went on from brush and grease pencil to employ washes and halftones.

Oscar Cesare for the New York Sun, April 18, 1916. 

"The Great Divide"

100 Years Ago: The Punitive Expedition

Judging from the date on this March 16, 1916 front page of the Chicago Daily News, Salsaback Saturday last week was focused on the wrong World War.

But let's overlook for a moment the sinking of the Dutch steamer Tubantia and even the front page editorial cartoon by Luther Bradley of Benedict Arnold bemoaning his lost opportunity of getting into Congress to block preparedness. We'll get back to WWI in a minute.

100 years ago this month, the U.S. Army chased Pancho Villa (José Doroteo Arango Arámbula) into Mexico. Villa, who had earlier received some support from the American government in his country's on-going civil war, had led guerrilla raids against American interests since January in hopes of undermining the government of Mexico's provisional President Venustiano Carranza. In the early morning of March 9, Villa and his force of 500 men  attacked Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 people (ten civilians and eight soldiers) and setting fire to the town.

Villa's guerrillas were driven out of the town by the superior weaponry of the 13th U.S. Cavalry. On March 13, Carranza’s government agreed to recognize the American right to “hot pursuit,” giving U.S. President Wilson the green light to send 6,000 men under the command of General John “Black Jack” Pershing after Villa.

Cartoon by Clifford Berryman, March 10, 1916

Uncle Sam: "I've Had About Enough of This"

Gen. Pershing's "Punitive Expedition" into Mexico would last until the following February, but was wearing out its welcome by April. This next cartoon by the Australian cartoonist David Henry Souter for the Stock Journal noting three headlines ("Mexico Has Declared War on the United States," "All Americans Have Been Ordered to Leave Mexico," and "The Fighting Has Begun and Americans Killed") dates from June, 1916:

Uncle Sam: "Stop clicking that pesky typewriter, Woodrow; I want to hear myself shoot."

The cartoon refers to the many letters of protest the U.S. President had sent the German Kaiser to protest attacks on Atlantic shipping. The cartoon also seems to predict the German Foreign Ministry's invitation for Mexico to join the Central Powers were the U.S. to join the allies (the Zimmerman telegram was decoded in January, 1917); it looks to me that Pancho Villa is riding a dachshund.

Contrary to the above cartoon, Mexico did not actually declare war on the United States, although the Mexican Army did attack the 13th Cavalry at Parral, Chihuahua, on April 12, and the Mexican and U.S. Armies fought a serious but indecisive battle at Carrizal, Chihuahua, on June 21. Negotiations between the two countries brought them back from the brink of war; and Pershing and his soldiers were withdrawn to the U.S. in time to head for the war in Europe.

The U.S. never did capture Villa, even though the Army tried yet again after WWI.

Cartoon by Sidney J. Greene, November, 1916; apparently a reference to a cartoon he'd drawn of Roosevelt four years earlier.

"Breaking In Again."

Teddy Roosevelt: "This is no place for me!"

Shameless Movie Tie-in

There's a new movie about Pancho Villa coming out tomorrow, so to celebrate, here's a November, 1916 editorial cartoon by Sidney Joseph Greene of the New York Evening Telegram.

The tiny figure fleeing Villa's recrudescence (now there's a word you never see in the papers any more) is labeled T.R., which I'm quite certain means that it's Teddy Roosevelt. Apparently, Mr. Greene felt that the former president didn't care to share the front page with the likes of the Mexican guerrilla. I'm not sure why Mr. Roosevelt is particularly relevant to the story. The historical record of Teddy Roosevelt during this period has him more concerned with urging war with Germany than supporting Gen. Pershing's pursuit of the Villistas.

Maybe it had something to do with their mustaches.

Update: It seems that the new Andy Garcia movie is not about Pancho Villa after all, but about an uprising of Catholics against the Mexican government in the 1920's. I have no cartoons about that to share. I'd never even heard of it.