War Crimes Edition

With self-styled Secretary of War Pete HIC!seth's Leave No Survivors rules of engagement in the present regime's gratuitous War in the Caribbean, Graphical History Tour takes a look at war crimes of the past.

"Das Ende" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. Dec. 1, 1945

80 years ago on November 30, a German U-boat commander and two of his subordinate officers were executed for war crimes.

It was during World War II, in the South Atlantic. The German submarine U-852 under the command of Captain Heinz-Wilhelm Eck torpedoed the Greek-flagged ship Peleus on March 13, 1944.

The submarine commander Eck feared the steamer’s debris would be observed by a passing airplane, and give enough information to Allied reconnaissance to enable it to find his ship. He therefore surfaced and attempted to have the debris field eliminated by machine-gunning and grenading it into the watery deep.

Per German rules of engagement:

No attempt of any kind should be made at rescuing members of ships sunk, and this includes picking up persons in the water and putting them in lifeboats, righting capsized lifeboats and handing over food and water. Rescue runs counter to the rudimentary demands of warfare for the destruction of enemy ships and crews … Be harsh, having in mind that the enemy takes no regard of women and children in his bombing attacks of German cities.

"Spectator" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 3, 1945

The execution of Captain Heinz-Wilhelm Eck, August Hoffmann, and Walter Weisspfennig, was overshadowed by the Nuremberg trials of the Nazi high command, accused of the systematic murder of 6 million Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and Socialists.

"Nuernberg" by David Low in London Spectator, ca. Dec. 2, 1945

The Nuremberg trials came to pass because the Allies were triumphant in the War. Germans did not bring the Nazis to trial. 

Nobody was put on trial for the carpet bombing of Dresden. Or for immolating the populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The rules of war were followed there.

"My Lai?" by Paul Conrad in Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1971

A generation later, in another war, the world was shocked by the March 16, 1968 massacre of hundreds of unarmed civilians by U.S. soldiers in the Vietnamese villages of My Lai and My Khe. Expecting to find a Viet Cong battalion there, two Companies of U.S. Army soldiers gang-raped, mutilated, and slaughtered women and children when they couldn't find any men of military age in the town, then burned their homes to the ground. It was the largest confirmed massacre of civilians by U.S. ground forces in the 20th Century.

"Another Victim of My Lai" by William Roberts in Cleveland Press, March 30, 1971

The massacre had been documented in horrific photographs which were printed in national newsmagazines and on television.

The My Lai Massacre was an egregious, but not isolated case, according to an October, 1968 letter from Tom Glen, a 21-year-old soldier of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, to General Creighton Abrams:

"What has been outlined here I have seen not only in my own unit, but also in others we have worked with, and I fear it is universal. If this is indeed the case, it is a problem which cannot be overlooked, but can through a more firm implementation of the codes of MACV (Military Assistance Command Vietnam) and the Geneva Conventions, perhaps be eradicated."

"Guilty" by Don Wright in Miami News, March 30, 1971

The responsibility for the massacre was taken all the way up to an Army Lieutenant, William Calley, Jr.. Calley's court martial became national news after a whistle-blower's letter prompted Congress to open an investigation. Calley testified that he had been following orders from his superior, Captain Ernest Medina. One witness testified that Medina's orders were that "anybody that was running from us, hiding from us" was to be shot. 

"Murderer" by Leonard Borozinski in Wisconsin State Journal, March 31, 1971

Calley received a guilty verdict in March of 1971 and sentenced to life in prison; yet, as the above cartoons suggest, emerged as a sympathetic figure. He was paroled in 1974 to very little public outcry.

"Time to Come Out of Hiding" by Wally "Trog" Fawkes in Punch, London, April, 1971

Meanwhile, in separate courts martial, Captain Medina and Captain Eugene M. Kotouc were acquitted of all charges. Commanding officer of Americal Division, Major General Samuel W. Koster was charged with covering up the massacre and acquitted, but demoted to Brigadier General.

"It's Not So Difficult Once You Get the Hang of It" by Bill Sanders in Milwaukee Journal, March 31, 1971

Before moving on, we would be remiss if we did not also remember U.S. Army pilot Hugh Thompson, Jr., who landed his helicopter between the villagers and the soldiers, interrupting the slaughter and evacuating some survivors to safety.

"This in a Land Where One Humiliation Is Worth a Thousand Retributions" by Mark Streeter in Savannah Morning News, May 3, 2004

In 2004, the U.S. was embarrassed by its soldiers staffing the military prison at Abu Ghraib torturing prisoners of war. The soldiers had even posted photos on the internet of themselves humiliating naked Iraqi prisoners, chaining them like dogs, and piling them up on top of each other. The most widely circulated photo was of one hooded prisoner standing on a box with arms outstretched while hooked up to electrical wires.

Punishment was limited to the lowest level grunts.

"Chain of Command" by John Sherffius in Boulder Daily Camera, August 20, 2004

What the Dubya Bush administration learned from this fiasco was to rely more and more on outside contractors, like Blackwater, whose civilian paramilitary employees massacred 17 Iraqis at a traffic roundabout in 2007. Said employees were not invited to the Blackwater annual Christmas party that year.

Two years later, the outside firm was ArmorGroup, hired by the U.S. State Department to provide security at the American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. CBS broke the story that ArmorGroup guards and supervisors engaging in what can only be described as a combination of the worst fraternity hazing with spring break at Fort Lauderdale.

for Q Syndicate, Sept., 2009

Hazing victims included Afghan nationals employed at the base, according to a Sept. 1, 2009 letter from Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: 

"There is also evidence that members of the guard force and their supervisors have drawn Afghan nationals into behavior forbidden for Muslims. For example, photographs show guards posing with Afghan nationals at the U.S. facility at Camp Sullivan as both the guards and nationals consume alcoholic beverages in scenes that suggest drunkenness, and one photo shows a near-naked U.S. guard who appears to have urinated on himself and splashed an Afghan national."

And again, there were plenty of photos, posted to the unit's social media page. It's always the pictures that get people into trouble.

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War crimes have been committed by many countries other than the United States. Is it even possible to have a crime-free war, fought strictly according to the Geneva Accords? 

Seemingly not. That, however, takes us into Current Events, which are not in our Graphical History Tour's itinerary.

Not yet, anyway.

Jimmy, We Harshly Drew Ye

Today's Graphical History Tour leafs through some editorial cartoons from the scrapbook I kept back during Jimmy Carter's presidency. 

Back then, almost every major newspaper in the world had its own editorial cartoonist or two, and very often supplemented them with syndicated editorial cartoons from elsewhere. (And every major city had more than one daily newspaper.) Any given issue of Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report and National Review would have several editorial cartoons illustrating their reportage, even occasionally commissioned for their covers.

So I got to see many cartoonists' work in print. I'm afraid this can't be a comprehensive account of every cartoonist's caricature of the 39th President of the United States. There were hundreds of editorial cartoonists plying the trade in those days, and most of them were quite good at it.

These are the cartoons I liked best for one reason or another: some for the artwork, and others that I thought were most effective at the time, even if I disagreed with them. None of my own cartoons are in that old scrapbook, so none of them follow. (Besides, I've done that post before.)

"Don't You Fret About These Little Rascals," in Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1977

I'll start with the only one of the cartoons in my scrapbook whose cartoonist I don't know for sure. There's no signature on this cartoon, and the Chicago Tribune didn't run a credit line under it. It was not someone who regularly appeared in the Trib. 

I was impressed by the stylish line technique, as well as the caricature; coming early in the Carter administration, cartoonists were just then having to develop a Carter characterization that did not involve him smiling broadly. Quite a few came to exaggerate the distance between nose and mouth.

Next up come two of the giants of editorial cartooning from that era, both here tackling the challenge of drawing President Carter without the smile. Even taking into consideration that both of them inspired imitators in the biz, I wouldn't need to see signatures to identify the work as theirs.

"Performer and Critic" by Pat Oliphant in Washington [DC] Star, April, 1977

The simplicity and spareness of Pat Oliphant's drawing apart from that tuba sells the cartoon. Jeff MacNelly's idea below is carried by the detail and heightened perspective.

"I Sure Picked a Rough Neighborhood to Run Out of Gas In" by Jeff MacNelly in Richmond News Leader, Oct., 1977

Jack Ohman wrote in his Substack this week that both Oliphant and MacNelly hated Carter — well, Oliphant hated everybody, Ohman says. He knew them both, and I don't. Anyway, Oliphant quickly began to draw Carter as a much smaller man than he actually was, and MacNelly gradually followed. By the eve of the 1980 election, both drew cartoons in which Carter didn't even come up to Reagan's knees — their way of saying that instead of growing into the job, Carter had done the opposite. 

"Not a Bad Man" by Dick Locher in Chicago Tribune, Feb. 1979

Such was also the point of this devastating cartoon by the Trib's Dick Locher. He must have really liked this idea, rehashing it decades later with President Barack Obama in the title role.

"For Human Rights" by Don Wright in Miami News, ca. Feb. 1977

I doubt that was the message behind the relative sizes of Carter and the Russian bear in Don Wright's cartoon, drawn only a month or so into the Carter administration. It does illustrate, however, a significant foreign policy change instituted by Carter to emphasize human rights. 

U.S. foreign policy after World War II had been focused on containing communism, even at the cost of allying ourselves with repressive right-wing regimes. That the Soviet Union was both communist and repressive meant that U.S.A.-U.S.S.R. relations were not likely to change all that much.

"Is It True You're Not Leaving Washington" by Mike Peters in Dayton Daily News, ca. Nov. 1977

In matters of style, Carter was given to performative gestures: walking from his inauguration carrying his coat bag, addressing the nation in a cardigan sweater, and cancelling a foreign trip because Congress hadn't passed his energy policy bill.

Mike Peterson posted a selection of cartoons from the Carter presidency on Monday, and Steve Greenberg observed that he was the only cartoonist in that bunch who is still producing editorial cartoons for publication. I believe that Mike Peters is the only such cartoonist in this here post. 

"Of Course I'm in Charge Here" by Clyde Peterson in Houston Chronicle, ca. Nov., 1977

Clyde Peterson drew under the pen name CP Houston with a fetching style all his own. I do suspect that had he drawn a Black politician with lips this large, he would have been labeled, even in pre-P.C. 1977, racist. Plenty of other cartoonists on this blog post would have run the same risk.

"Born Again" by Ivan Licho in Militant, New York, Feb. 3, 1978

This cartoon by Ivan Licho for the newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party (one of my college roommates had a subscription) unfairly likens Carter to the two presidents who preceded him, but I found the drawing itself compelling. 

Its caption's reference to President Carter's religious faith sets up this next cartoon, when Carter's sagging poll numbers were lifted by achievement of a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt:

"Borne Again" by Paul Conrad in Los Angeles Times, March, 1979

I'm not sure that there is anything special about Paul Conrad's drawing, aside from my hometown newspaper's decision to crop it rather severely. I just like the pun.

As I said above, this was not intended to be a comprehensive collection of U.S. cartoonists by any means; others have already tackled that task. What I haven't seen is any sampling of foreign editorial cartoonists; so here's a random bunch from my scrapbook.

"Either This Man Is Dead or My Watch Has Stopped" by Leslie Gibbard in Manchester Guardian, Sept. 1977

Under President Carter, the U.S. officially recognized the government of "Red China," 28 years after Maoist forces overthrew Chiang Kai-Shek. It was an opening made possible by Richard Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972, although our continuing "Two China" policy doesn't quite mean we've surrendered Taiwan to Beijing. Yet.

Even more impressive than transforming Carter into Groucho Marx is Leslie Gibbard's transformation of Chinese President Hua Guofeng into Margaret Dumont.

"You're Not Going to Let a Little Teng Like That Spoil Your Appetite" by Ed Uluschak in Edmonton Journal, ca. Feb., 1979

While I was in college, my parents gifted me a subscription to the monthly Atlas World Press Review, later just World Press Review, which published articles, columns, and editorial cartoons from around the world. (I continued subscribing to it after I graduated until I noticed that my income was falling far short of my expenses, forcing me to cut it along with Cinemax and pre-packaged frozen dinners.)

Ya'acov "Ze'ev" Farkash in Ha'aretz, Tel Aviv, ca. Jan., 1980

Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev sent Russian troops into Afghanistan to bolster a client government there in the winter of 1979-1980, while the Carter administration was hobbled by preoccupation with the hostage crisis in Iran.

by Keith Waite in Sun, London, Feb., 1980

Carter's response of pulling the U.S. out of Moscow's 1980 Olympic Games is beautifully skewered by Britain's Keith Waite. Russia retaliated by pulling out of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

"Scoops" by Doug Sneyd, self-syndicated, Oct., 1980

In a way, what doomed the Carter administration from the start was that there was no outside voice coming to its defense or lauding its achievements. Its triumphs quickly faded, while the mistakes, misfortunes, and malaise lingered on.

I've read some historical fiction recently imagining Carter reelected to a second term. He would then have been in office as OPEC's grip on world economic power was broken, the Soviet Union became unable to hide losses in Afghanistan and two of its sclerotic leaders died in quick succession. The Equal Rights Amendment might have passed. He'd have gotten to name a Justice to the Supreme Court. 

He'd also have been in office as HIV/AIDS spread like wildfire, terrorists killed 143 Marines in Beirut, and the U.S. went through a recession.

Assuming he didn't get shot to impress Jodie Foster.

Instead, he went on to be one of the most exemplary ex-presidents in history, and his family got to celebrate his 100th birthday with him.

The Wreck of the Richard M. Nixon

The 50th anniversary of Richard Nixon's resignation is next week. Although I've revisited cartoons from that historical moment before, the 1970's were a golden age of editorial cartooning; so there are plenty more whence those cartoons came.

"No One Is Above the Law" by Ranan Lurie, ca. July 29, 1974

At the end of July, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in U.S. v. Nixon, rejecting President Nixon's claim that "executive privilege" gave him the right to ignore subpoenas from the courts and Congress to turn over the White House tapes. Even with three Nixon appointees on the Court, the ruling against Nixon was 8-0, Justice William Rehnquist recusing himself.

Such a ruling has proven impossible under today's right-wing Court, stacked with grand old partisans who pretend to profess that the Founding Fathers intended for a president to have executive privilege entitling him to commit crimes, cover them up, and quash any investigation into them.

As long as he's a Republican, of course.

"The Last Bullet" by Walter "Trog" Fawkes in London Observer, August 4, 1974

Complying with the ruling, the White House surrendered the tapes, and investigators soon found the "smoking gun" they were looking for.

Six days after security guard Frank Mills discovered the Watergate break-in, and contrary to the President's claims that he wasn't involved, Richard Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman decided that the CIA should instruct the FBI to drop its investigation on the grounds that it would expose covert operations related to the Bay of Pigs invasion.

"I Didn't Know It Was Loaded" by Pat Oliphant in Denver Post, August, 1974

I've posted Pat Oliphant's cartoon before, but it's too good not to rerun it again. I'll probably rerun it every time I ever refer back to the final days of Nixon's presidency.

"Wait, fellers..." by Gene Basset for United Feature Syndicate, Aug. 8, 1974

Support from congressional Republicans instantly evaporated. Party leaders Barry Goldwater, Hugh Scott, and John Rhodes came to the White House with advice for Nixon to start packing his bags.

by Don Wright in Miami News, August 7, 1974

On the way out, they suggested to Gerald Ford that if he hadn't yet moved into the brand new Vice President's residence at #1 Observatory Circle — he hadn't — he needn't bother.

by Bill Mauldin in Chicago Sun Times, ca. August 7, 1974

The House Judiciary Committee had already voted to send articles of impeachment to the full House. A few Republicans had voted with the majority Democrats. Now even Nixon's Republican defenders were urging him to resign before the House would have the opportunity to vote.

"Pay" by Jacob Burck in Chicago Sun-Times, August 9, 1974

The only question left was how steep a price Nixon would have to pay.

by Les Gabbard in The Guardian, London, August 8, 1974

Congress would happily drop its impeachment proceedings; but how much longer would the President of the United States remain an unindicted co-conspirator?

by Kenneth Mahood, Punch, London, August, 1974

President Nixon announced his resignation in an address to the nation on Thursday evening, August 8, 1974. Without admitting culpability for the Watergate break-in or the subsequent cover-up, he acknowledged that although "I have never been a quitter," he had lost all support to continue in office.

by Hugh Haynie in Louisville Courier-Journal, August 9, 1974

Unlike his "You Won't Have Richard Nixon to Kick Around Any More" speech in 1962, his address didn't wallow in self-pity. He didn't blame his political enemies for his fate. He didn't argue that his discussion about obstructing an FBI investigation was "perfect."

"The System Works" by Clifford "Baldy" Baldowski in Atlanta Constitution, August 8, 1974

And he definitely didn't call upon an unruly mob to march on the Capitol and fight, fight, fight or they wouldn't have a country any more.

by Frank Interlandi in Los Angeles Times, August 9, 1974

I had intended to close out today's post with the above cartoon by Frank Interlandi (which didn't foresee the ink spent on cartoons drawn after Ford's pardon of Nixon a month later, and Nixon's interview with David Frost in 1977); but in light of the passing this week of Tom Engelhardt at 93, I'll let him have the last word instead.

"The End" by Tom Engelhardt in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 9, 1974

When the Expletives Hit the Fan

"When the Egg Hit the Fan" by D. Edward Holland in Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1974

It's time for our Graphical History Tour to step back 50 years, just as the Watergate scandal was really, um, hitting the fan.

On April 30, 1974, Richard Nixon released transcripts of tape recorded White House conversations, responding to a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee earlier that month for 380 hours' worth of the tapes themselves. 

"Right After You Eat..." by Dick Locher in Chicago Tribune, May 4, 1974

Rodino in Locher's cartoon is Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Peter Rodino (D-NJ); I suppose you can interpret the other diner to represent either the rest of the committee's Democrats or the media. Either way, the transcripts were not what the committee had ordered, but they were hungrily accepted nevertheless.

Major newspapers across the country printed out the White House transcripts in full, either by adding a special section or by serializing them over several days. It seems unlikely that more than a select handful would have the wherewithal to repeat such a feat today.

"That's All There Is" by Bernard Seaman in AFL-CIO News, ca. May 17, 1974

Tricky Dicky's transcripts were extensive, but didn't satisfy anyone. (Now, wouldn't Seaman's cartoon have been better if the transcripts had been wilted flowers?)

"Would You Buy a Used Encyclopaedia from This Man" by Ranan Lurie, ca. May 6, 1974

"Would you buy a used car from this man?" had been a Democratic Party poster attacking Nixon during the 1960 presidential race, resurfacing in variations (a used economy, a used war) when he won the presidency in 1968. Lurie was not the only cartoonist to resurrect it in connection with the White House transcripts.

"If You Liked the TV Appearance..." by Dennis Renault in Sacramento Bee, May 2, 1974

We already knew of the suspicious 18.5-minute gap in one of the tapes, supposedly produced by Nixon's secretary Rosemary Woods simultaneously holding one foot down on the Play And Record button and reaching behind herself to answer a phone while transcribing them. To nobody's surprise, the released transcripts included a lot of little omissions on just about every page.

"Like Him, I'm Doing My Best" by Warren King in New York Daily News, May 1, 1974

In addition to innumerable comments on the tapes reported to be "inaudible" or "unintelligible," there were hundreds of instances of "expletives deleted." And a new phrase entered the popular lexicon.

"Fourscore and Seven..." by Don Wright in Miami News, May 2, 1974

President Nixon had cultivated an image of staid propriety — even, when he made an abortive move to doll White House security personnel up like a bunch of marching band drum majors, pomposity. When candidate Nixon showed up on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in just to say "Sock it to me?!" it was funny just because one was accustomed to hearing him speak more formally. We all assumed he wore a suit and tie every waking hour and only loosened the tie when it was time for bed. That he addressed his wife and daughters as "my fellow Americans."

"That's Nothing..." by Bill Mauldin in Chicago Sun-Times, ca. May 10, 1974

So learning that he routinely swore in private like a drunken sailor who'd just stubbed his toe was rather shocking. You'd have expected that sort of thing from LBJ. We were slightly embarrassed but not at all surprised later on to hear the recordings of him discussing inseams with his tailor.

"Now That You (Expletive Deleted) Have These (Inaudible) Transcripts..." by Hugh Haynie in Louisville Courier-Journal, May 7, 1974

As for Abe Lincoln? You know, I'll bet he could tell a pretty good ribald joke if Mary wasn't around.

The Judiciary Committee continued its demand that the White House turn over the actual tapes, taking its cases to the Supreme Court. Everybody expected that as damning as the transcripts were, the tapes had to be worse. 

"Top Billing" by Charles Werner in Indianapolis Star, May 2, 1974

I wanted to be sure to include cartoons by some of Richard Nixon's most loyal defenders. That includes Ed Holland and Dick Locher at the top of today's post, and Charles Werner and Don Hesse.

"Friends List" by Don Hesse in St. Louis Globe-Democrat, ca. May 22, 1974

 It was becoming ever more difficult, however, to defend Nixon any more.  As edited as the transcripts were, they still provided ample evidence that the president was involved in efforts to cover up its connection to the Watergate break-in, and to obstruct congressional investigations into the affair. 

"Still Hungry, Big Fella" by Jeff MacNelly in Richmond News Leader, ca. May 9, 1974

Arch-conservative Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) was the first Republican Party leader to urge Nixon to resign; House Minority Leader John Rhodes (R-OH) also told reporters that Nixon "ought to consider resigning as a possible option." Senate Republican Leader Hugh Scott (R-PA) called the behavior of Nixon and his aides revealed on the transcripts "deplorable, disgusting, shabby, and immoral." 

"Sometimes I Must Admit to Some Misgivings" by Pat Oliphant in Denver Post, ca. May 14, 1974

Even Vice President Gerald Ford began to distance himself publicly from the administration he had joined just five months earlier.

"Easy, Dick..." by Wayne Stayskal in Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1974

By the way, I've kept the caption to the Ed Holland cartoon at the top of this post exactly as it appeared in the Chicago Tribune. Whether the bowdlerization of a common vulgar phrase was done by the cartoonist or some milquetoast editor, he or they definitely blew an easy and obvious opportunity for cartoon use of "expletive deleted."