Q Toon: Devices to Their Own Left

Wisconsin failed — by a whisker — to follow Democrats in the rest of the country in the march to Democratic Socialism this Tuesday. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley edged out Madison Statehouse Representative Francesca Hong in the race for the party's gubernatorial nomination.

In polls, Hong, a self-identified Democratic Socialist, had led a crowded field for months, and Republicans were eager to run against her. Not that their campaign against Crowley will be any different than their campaign against her; Tom Tiffany and his corporate backers will simply edit his face into their attack ads in place of hers.

The embarrassing tweets played up in Republican ads will be significantly older than the stuff they wanted to hang around Hong's neck (Crowley has semi-plausible deniability that he was responsible for them). We can make a drinking game for every time a commercial warns us that "David Crowley Is Too Liberal For Wisconsin." We're a heavy-drinking state, you know.

Well, anyway, Max and Leo hadn't heard the Wisconsin primary results before walking their dog in this week's cartoon. Zoran Mamdani's election as New York City Mayor heralded a string of high profile victories by young, left-wing Democrats over older, more "establishment" incumbents: Melat Kiros in Colorado; Abdul El-Sayed and William Lawrence in Michigan; Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota.

On the other hand, 

The winners in the Democrats’ moderate faction include Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), who fended off a leftist challenger; former Rep. Elaine Luria (Va.) and Richmond-area prosecutor Shannon Taylor, who won swing-district primaries; and Rep. Wesley Bell (Mo.), who prevailed in his rematch against democratic socialist former Rep. Cori Bush.

Republicans purged moderates (and anyone willing to stand up for constitutional democracy) from their number several election cycles ago, so as far as the GOP is concerned, there is no difference between moderate Democrats, liberal progressives, Democratic Socialists, Socialists, and Communists. Potayto, potahto. 

French fries, gnocchi, tater tot, lefse, spud.

Bereaved, Bothered, and Bewildered

This week’s Graphical History Tour sets the calendar back 100 Augusts ago to find two political parties in mourning.

"Leaderless" by Fred Morgan in Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 2, 1925

The deaths of William Jennings Bryan and Robert LaFollette had left voids in their respective political parties. Three-time Democratic presidential nominee Bryan had been replaced as his party's standard bearer, but still wielded considerable influence; badly divided Democrats had named his brother their vice presidential candidate in 1924 to secure his support for the ticket.

"Which Will Capture Democracy" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, Aug. 3, 1925

The major factions in the Democratic Party were Bryan's western populists and the more conservative Wall Street and Tammany Hall New Yorkers. I find it telling that McCutcheon overlooks Southerners in this cartoon.

McCutcheon's liberal and conservative labels here did not quite mean the same values that they do today. The western liberals were agrarian, nationalist, and open to the support of the Ku Klux Klan. The conservative wing of the party supported Wall Street interests, favored laissez-faire capitalism and the gold standard. Support of and opposition to Prohibition, international agreements, immigration, and tariffs cut across both wings of the party.

"The Wisconsin Wild Waves" by Clifford Berryman in Washington [DC] Evening Star, Aug. 19, 1925

Meanwhile, Wisconsin scheduled a special election to fill Fighting Bob LaFollette's seat in the U.S. Senate. His 30-year-old son Robert LaFollette, Jr., was heavily favored over his Republican rivals in the September 15 primary. (The leading Democratic candidate failed to get enough votes in the primary to qualify for the general election two weeks later and was forced to run as an Independent.)

"Help Aplenty" by Bill Sykes in Philadelphia Public Ledger, ca. Aug. 21, 1925

Elsewhere, the Progressive movement was hard-pressed to find a new leader. The Iowa Republican Party joined with the state's Democrats to challenge Progressive Republican Senator Smith W. Brookhart's narrow 1924 election victory over Daniel Steck; the Senate Committee on Elections and Privileges would ultimately side with Steck, and the full Senate would then vote to unseat Brookhart.

"I'll Never Quit You Entirely" by Clifford Berryman in Washington [DC] Evening Star, Aug. 18, 1925

Another potential leader of the Progressive Party was Senator George Norris, a very independent-minded Republican from Nebraska. But he quashed speculation that he could succeed LaFollette as a leader of any Third Party, vowing to remain a Republican — which didn't stop him from endorsing the Democratic Party presidential nominees in 1928 and 1932. 

Giving the lie to Berryman's cartoon, Norris did switch to the Democratic Party in 1934 and won re-election to the Senate one more time. Running six years later as an Independent, he came in second to the Republican candidate.

By the way, Norris left two lasting legacies in state and national politics. As a state legislator, he successfully championed changing Nebraska's legislature from bicameral to unicameral (the only such legislature in the country). As Senator, he wrote the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which moved the presidential inauguration date up from March 4 to January 20.

"It Pays to Stay on a Main Traveled Road" by Ed LeCocq in Des Moines Register, Aug. 5, 1925

The Progressive Party also lost vital support as the American Federation of Labor (AFL) announced that it would thenceforth devote its political capital to wooing the two established political parties. Under Samuel Gompers, the AFL had purged socialists and communists from local union leadership positions, and would now distance itself from the Progressive Party — Bill Sykes, above, was following the major party line by labeling progressivism "radicalism" — as well.

"Thou, Too, Brutus" by Jesse Cargill for King Features Syndicate, ca. Aug. 6, 1925

With no national leader in Washington and rejected by its most viable source of support, the Progressive Party could not survive. That left Americans with the same two political parties they had to choose from since the Civil War.

"Rehearsing for the Next Big Show" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Aug. 18, 1925

Keep Kartooning with Koolidge

Having caught up with the LaFollette and Davis campaigns last week, today our Graphical History Tour checks in with President Calvin Coolidge and his whirlwind campaign for a full four years in the White House.

by Charles "Bill" Sykes in Life magazine, Oct. 2 1924

Charles Sykes here scoffs at President Calvin Coolidge's campaign message of "common sense" government. Coolidge whistles past the political issues burying ground, haunted by tariff troubles, scandals left over from the Harding presidency, the Ku Klux Klan, and "our foreign policy."

"The Wide Open Spaces" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sept. 29, 1924

Of the four, the Klan was certainly not a dead issue. The secretive society wielded influence not just in the solidly Democratic south, but had also made significant inroads in the Republican Party, winning gubernatorial and senate primaries in Indiana and Maine. But Democratic and Progressive leaning cartoonists lambasted Coolidge for not speaking out against the Klan.

by Grover Page in Louisville Courier-Journal, Oct. 13, 1924

Coolidge supposedly believed that his best option was to ignore the Klan and thus deprive it of the publicity a presidential statement would afford. His running mate, Charles Dawes, did speak out against the Klan, and forcibly so; as did John Davis and Robert LaFollette, the presidential nominees of the Democratic and Progressive Parties, respectively. When Coolidge finally did condemn the Klan by name, it was fully a year after this election was over.

"Silence Gives Consent" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, Sept. 2, 1924

"Keep Kool with Koolidge" by Harold Talburt for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Sept. 13, 1924

In could be what we cartoonist call a "Yahtzee," J.P. Alley and Harold Talburt both depict a klansman proudly misspelling the Republicans' election slogan. Or perhaps Talburt brazenly swiped the idea from Alley, who drew it first.

"Still Klampaigning" by Harold Talburt for NEA, ca. Sept. 15, 1924

In fact, Talburt liked the idea so much that he made a week-long series out of it, adding a new character to the parade each day.

"Klampaigning—Knumber V" by Harold Talburt for NEA, ca. Sept. 17, 1924

By the end of the series, the parade behind the Klansman included former Ambassador to Great Britain George Harvey, Charles Dawes, New Hampshire Congressman Foster W. Stearns, campaign manager William Butler, and Coolidge himself bringing up the rear.

"The Actions of 'Silent Cal'" by Ed Gale in Los Angeles Times, Sept. 10, 1924

Okay, I was being sarcastic at the top of this post. "Silent Cal" waged no whirlwind campaign. He wasn't raising the roofs of auditoriums and airport tarmacs packed with cheering fans. To his mind, the way to be elected president was to get down to the work of being President.

"The Crew That Brought This Dirigible In" by Charles Kuhn in Indianapolis News, Oct. 17, 1924

Kuhn's cartoon here references the arrival at Lakehurst Naval Station of U.S. Navy dirigible USS Los Angeles, 81 hours after departing from its German construction site at Friedrichshafen, Germany. For those of you reading on tiny devices, the crew in Kuhn's cartoon are Stability, Prosperity, Common Sense Government, Economy, and Efficiency.

Oh, by the way, I have still not found any mention of the Klan from Mr. Kuhn.

"Ho, Hum" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, Sept. 20, 1924

Coolidge was satisfied to let his running mate take care of all the campaign speechifying, flesh-pressing, and, I presume, baby-kissing. If Dawes had any complaints about it, he confided them only to J.P. Alley.

Since I've brought up Mr. Dawes again, I'll mention that Iowa Senator Smith W. Brookhart touched off some fireworks by calling for Coolidge to dump him from the Republican ticket. Please excuse the mailing label here:

"What a Noisy World" by James Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 2, 1924

Brookhart, one of those pesky Progressive Republicans, opined that Coolidge should replace Dawes, a diplomat and former Director of the Budget lauded for his proposal to resolve Europe's war reparations dispute, with someone from the "Farm Bloc."

Not that the Iowa Senator had any particular farm bloc politician in mind, of course.

1924 Challengers

Our Graphical History Tour returns again to the presidential contest of 1924, where we find Harold Talburt all fired up about Progressive nominee Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin.

"One Good Way to Save the Rug" by Harold Talburt for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Sept. 5, 1924

I could be wrong here, but my gut feeling is that a board with a nail in it is not the best tool for beating a rug, and one of them new-fangled vacuum cleaners would be more efficient and less damaging to boot. 

Before Kirby, Hoover, and Electrolux rendered them obsolete, there was a weapon called a carpet beater, consisting of metal loops flowering off the end of a wooden handle. Years later, one Henry E. Rutzebeck of Sunland, California reminisced about the old-fangled device to the Los Angeles Times:

“I remember beating the rug until my arms and shoulders were limp and my spirit demoralized,” he writes. “My mother would come out, give the object of my frustration one well-placed whack and, in a cloud of smoking dust, instruct: ‘Beat more!’ ”

He adds: “Today’s mass-produced rugs would never survive the ritual beatings such as we were trained to administer in the early ’20s.”

"Asking Too Much of the Girl" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Colliers, Sept. 13, 1924

Beating of the carpets was presumably well overdue in this Collier's magazine cartoon by "Ding" Darling. I presume it is Congress with so much "unfinished business," beset by "blocs" and an overflowing "waste" can. 

For better or worse, the 68th Congress had not been as completely unproductive as Darling portrays: it passed an onerous, racist immigration bill, but also acknowledged Native Americans as U.S. citizens. It also passed bills adjusting veterans' compensation and addressing water pollution. It was a modest output to be sure, but a model of efficiency and productivity compared to the Republican 118th Congress of today. Besides, the 68th Congress still had a lengthy lame duck session between Election Day and March 4, 1925 to hunker down and really get to work.

LaFollette's invitation to "The November Bride" to "live here with the folks until we can figure out something" will merit some further thought.

"We'd Like to Know" by William Hanny in Philadelphia Inquirer, Sept. 25, 1924

William Hanny takes issue with a specific proposal of LaFollette's for congressional review of Supreme Court decisions. Given the conservative bent of the Court for most of its history, its resistance to most if not all Progressive legislation would have been extremely likely.

"Farmers Take Your Choice" probably by T.E. Powers for Star Co., ca. Sept. 26, 1924

I don't see a signature on this cartoon, but it looks to me like the work of T.E. Powers. A typical cartoon of his would have three loosely related panels like this one, so I wouldn't be surprised if the editors of the Oklahoma Leader selected the one panel they liked, or would fit on the page, and it didn't happen to be the panel with Powers's signature in it.

LaFollette stands proudly with his running mate, Democratic Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, who had led a special Senate committee investigating the Harding Administration's Teapot Dome scandal. (That's also Wheeler playing guitar in William Hanny's cartoon.) The Democratic presidential nominee John Davis, starting off on his campaign tour of western states, is joined by vice presidential nominee Governor Charles W. Bryan of Nebraska and Bryan's elder brother William Jennings Bryan.

"The Sailing Power of the Tail" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Evening Star, Sept. 25, 1924

The elder Bryan, his party's standard bearer in 1896, 1900, and 1908, remained a Democratic power broker and a favorite of cartoonists. Adding the younger Bryan to the ticket was intended to neutralize the Prairie Populist's strong opposition to Davis.

"Carrying All Before It" by Robert Satterfield for Autocaster, ca. Sept. 19, 1924

It has been very difficult to find any cartoons confident in the Democratic ticket's chances in November, so Bob Satterfield lands here pretty much by default.

He seizes on new criminal charges against Harding administration officials connected to the Teapot Dome scandal as the basis for his optimism, but Coolidge had effectively disassociated himself from his predecessor's "Ohio Gang."

"Moral" by Charles Kuhn in Indianapolis News, Sept. 23, 1924

What concerned some Coolidge supporters such as Doc Kuhn was that the three-way race would end up with no candidate winning a majority in the electoral college, leaving the election up to Congress. And perhaps this was the possibility Darling was getting at in his Collier's cartoon.

Republicans held a majority in both the House (which, according to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, would elect the President) and Senate (which would elect the Vice President); but that includes several members aligned with the Progressive movement — not to mention Senators LaFollette and Wheeler themselves.

The precedent set 100 years earlier, when no candidate won an electoral college majority in the four-way race of 1824, suggests that there would have been plenty of wheeling and dealing in what is called a "contingent election." That earlier congress had managed to elect a president in one day.

On the other hand, in 1924, this was the Congress that had taken nine ballots to elect a Speaker of the House.

Again, a hasty decision compared to today's GOP QauQus.

Speaking of Lynching

I was going to save this cartoon, published 100 years ago today, for Saturday's Graphical History Tour; but it doesn't quite fit tomorrow's theme. But it affords a nice segue from Clarence Thomas's "high-tech lynching" complaint in yesterday's cartoon to tomorrow's thrilling episode.

"Voice of the Negro" by Russell in New York Age, July 1, 1922

Rep. Leonidas C. Dyer was a Progressive Republican Congressman from St. Louis, Missouri. He first proposed his bill to make lynching a federal crime in 1918 in response to the race rioting in East St. Louis the previous year. Casualty estimates because of the attacks by White mobs vary wildly from 39 to 150 Black Americans; some 6,000 more were left homeless. Local police were reportedly ordered not to fire on the White rioters, allowing the violence to run unchecked for over a month.

Recognizing the fecklessness of local authorities, Dyer's bill called for the federal government “to protect citizens of the United States against lynching in default of protection by the States.” But it failed to pass the Democratic-led House. Dyer reintroduced his bill in 1920 after the "Red Summer" of 1919, and again it failed.

Republicans took the House, Senate and Presidency in the elections of 1920, and Dyer's third try passed the House of Representatives on January 26, 1922, encouraging Black Americans' hopes. Southern Democrats, joined by Idaho Republican William Borah, successfully filibustered against the Dyer bill however, arguing that lynchings were an issue that should be left for states to deal with. They even excused lynching by claiming that the practice was a reasonable strategy to protect White women from supposed amorous advances by Colored Folk.

They were, in the words I put in Ginni Thomas's mouth yesterday, "okay with it."

Dyer would never see his bill become law. He was defeated for reelection in the Democratic sweep of 1932, and died in 1957. All the while, Southern Democrats repeatedly filibustered anti-lynching bills.

Republicans found a way "to win the lily white South," but not in a way Congressman Dyer or cartoonist Russell would have appreciated. Over the rest of the 20th Century, as the rest of the Democratic Party became increasingly committed to civil rights for Black Americans, the progeny of those Southern Democrats left the party: first as Dixiecrats, and eventually taking over the Republican Party.

Only after overcoming a threatened filibuster by Kentucky Republican Rand Paul would any federal anti-lynching legislation become law. President Joe Biden finally signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act on March 29, 2022.

Nearly a century after this cartoon was drawn.