This Week's Sneak Peek

We learned today of the passing of fellow cartoonist and friend of the blog Sean Martin ("Doc and Raider") early this morning.

From his friend Randy Riddle:

Many of you know that Sean has been in bad health for awhile now. A little less than two weeks ago, Sean was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs. He entered hospice care just a few days ago. He passed away, at peace, in his sleep.
Sean requested that there not be any funeral service, but I'm hoping to arrange a Zoom conference where his many friends in the US, Canada, and other countries can get together to remember his life and work.
Sean also requested that in lieu of flowers, that donations be made in his name to Safe Haven for Cats in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Update: Find Sean's obituary at this link.

That Last Stubborn Button

Suffragetteback Saturday celebrates the centennial of ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment this month!

"The Last Few Buttons Are Always the Hardest" by Archibald Chapin in St, Louis Star, ca. May, 1920

When last we checked in back in March, West Virginia had become the 34th state to ratify the amendment; Washington added to the list later that month. Several states had rushed to be among the first to approve ratification; but 36 were needed, and that last one was proving very elusive.

"The Hesitating Heroes" by Harry Westerman in Ohio State Journal, ca. June, 1920

Even with ratification so tantalizingly close, neither the Republican nor Democratic party platform committed whole-heartedly to it (frankly, they both offered weak tea on most issues). Southern states in particular opposed the amendment; legislatures in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and South Carolina had officially rejected it.

"What Makes the Suff Rage" by Albert T. Reid in The National Republican, by July 14, 1920

Republican Albert Reid pointed out that those southern states (here portrayed by "'Kunnel' Democracy") were dominated by Democratic legislators and governors. Overall in 1920, Republicans held majorities in 32 state legislatures; Democrats had the majority in only half that number.

"Will He Get Away with It?" by Wimmer in various Tennessee newspapers, ca. August 13, 1920

Who was going to get credit for giving women the vote must have been at issue.

"Yes Or No?" by Ernest Burtt in Knoxville Journal and Tribune, ca. Aug. 13, 1920

Connecticut, Vermont, Florida, and North Carolina hadn't taken action on the Susan B. Anthony Amendment; so the deciding vote would come down to Tennessee, where Democratic Governor Albert Roberts called the legislature into special session on August 9. (Here's another one of those ouija board cartoons, and by no means the only one I've seen addressing this specific topic!)

"The Anxious Moment When the Ball Rimmed the Cup" by Archibald Chapin in St. Louis Star, August, 1920

Ratification passed easily in the Tennessee Senate, 25 to 4. Knowing that the Governor and state Attorney General supported women's suffrage, opponents in the Tennessee House pulled out all the stops to prevent passage.

A.E. Kromer in Pittsburgh Gazette Times (?), August 19, 1920

The vote in the House was very close — tied, in fact — until 24-year-old legislator Harry T. Burn (R-Niota) changed his vote from nay to aye at the urging, it is said, of his mother.

No caption, by Clifford Berryman in Washington Evening Star, August 19, 1920

But wait! Don't uncork that champagne — er, sparkling grape juice — just yet, ladies!

"Drat That Boy" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Evening Star, August 23, 1920

In an effort to throw a monkey wrench into the works 37 members of the Tennessee House hopped a train to Decatur, Alabama to deny a quorum for reconsideration of the resolution, a parliamentary maneuver necessitated by the Speaker of the House. When that ploy failed, they returned and managed to pass a bill nullifying the ratification vote. Tennessee Attorney General Thompson, however, citing a moot attempt in 1870 by the New York legislature to revoke its ratification of the 15th Amendment, declared that reversing a ratification vote was illegal. Gov. Roberts signed the ratification resolution on August 24.

"Legal Technicalities" by Bob Satterfield, for Newspaper Enterprise Assn. (Cleveland) ca. July 15, 1920

One of the groups opposing the amendment, the American Constitutional League, was still not ready to give up. In a case filed in court immediately after ratification, the ACL argued that all 36 ratification votes by the states were invalid and that the Tennessee Secretary of State was ineligible to perform the constitutionally required step of signing the legislature's action.

The plaintiff was Charles S. Fairchild, acting on behalf of the American Constitutional League, and the case was argued by attorney Alfred D. Smith. Justice Frederick L. Siddons first raised the question of whether he even had the authority to issue such an order, and asked Smith to go find references and citations to show that he could do so. Smith returned to court a few hours later with the required documentation, but the judge still refused Smith’s request to summon the Secretary of State to show cause why he should not be restrained from signing the proclamation, and would not issue an order forbidding the Secretary from signing:
“I hold that the act of promulgating the ratification of the suffrage amendment is purely a ministerial act. I am averse to issuing a ruling ordering the Secretary of State to show cause why he should not be enjoined on the grounds presented here.”
The judge also seemed rather surprised to see that the “antis” were not just attacking Tennessee’s ratification, which at one time was the subject of controversy, but all 36 ratifications: “Do you attack the validity of every legislative act of the States with reference to ratification ?”
Smith replied: “We do on the grounds, first that Congress had no right to propose such an amendment, and secondly, because the acts of ratification were in some instances invalid because the legislatures which voted favorably were elected before Congress proposed suffrage ratification.”
A number of Southern States – Tennessee being the only one that actually ratified – have a rule that a Statewide election must take place between the time a Constitutional amendment is passed by Congress and the State legislature can vote on ratifying it. But in June, the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling in regard to Ohio’s ratification of the 18th Amendment (Hawke v. Smith, 253 U.S. 221), which has been interpreted by virtually all legal authorities and scholars as invalidating all restrictions on any State legislature’s right to ratify a Constitutional amendment at any time.

"Southern Chivalry Isn't What It Used to Be" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1920

Fairchild v. Hughes made its way to the Supreme Court in January, 1922, and was quickly disposed of. Mr. Fairchild, wrote Justice Brandeis, "is not an election officer; and the state of New York, of which he is a citizen, had previously amended its own Constitution so as to grant the suffrage to women, and had ratified this amendment. Plaintiff has only the right, possessed by every citizen, to require that the government be administered according to law and that the public moneys be not wasted."

"Hats Off, Boys" by Donahey in Cleveland Plain Dealer, August, 1920

Meanwhile, U. S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby issued a proclamation on August 26, 1920 that officially declared the 19th Amendment ratified. As far as everybody but the poor sports in the American Constitutional League was concerned, women's suffrage was thenceforth guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

"We Suppose the Disintegration of the Home..." by Jay N. "Ding" Darling in New York Tribune, August 29, 1920

Q Toon: Cough, and the World Coughs with You

When the news was reporting that China had completely closed off the city of Wuhan because of some newfangled virus, I wondered what would happen in this country if such a thing ever got out of control here.

When it did get out of control here, I thought everyone would recognize what the Chinese had to go through, so health officials would take charge and everyone would do what we could to avoid having to quarantine entire cities. Surely we would have had this thing under control by sometime in the summer if we all pulled together.

But we have a president who thought he could make the virus magically disappear by Easter or Mother's Day or Independence Day just by wishing it so. After all, he has always had enablers on retainer so that he could wish away his school records, his creditors, his bankruptcies, his porn dates, and his impeachable offenses.

We also have an excess of Cliff Clavenesque antivaxxers, QAnoncompoops, conspiracy fabulists, and Dr. Stella Immanuels, and legions of right-wingers screeching that pulling together is just socialism by another name. The religious right has demanded that its faith-based pseudoscience — creationism, for example — is equally valid as empirical science, and even that it be taught in schools. Flat Earthers are scarcely any more ridiculous.

The lot of them have combined to keep this pandemic spreading like wildfire.

It's almost like it's a conspiracy or something.

This Week's Sneak Peek

 Man, that's some wicked covid hair.

Political Cartoons by Chester Gould

Here's a bit of cartooning history I hadn't known before.

Earlier this week, I stumbled across a bunch of political cartoons by Chester Gould, better known as the creator of "Dick Tracy." Sure enough, the Lambiek Comiclopedia reports that Gould drew editorial cartoons for the Tulsa Democrat before moving to Illinois to draw for Hearst's Chicago Evening American.

"Serving His Country" by Chester Gould, July, 1920

By the time these cartoons appeared in the second half of July, 1920, the Tulsa Democrat had been folded into the Tulsa Tribune, which means that Gould, born in 1900, drew his Democrat cartoons as a teenager. Neither of those two Tulsa newspapers appear to be archived on line (a potential loss to history, given the Tribune's culpability in fomenting the 1921 Tulsa race riots), but I found each of these six cartoons widely disseminated to other Oklahoma newspapers: The Tahlequah Arrow Democrat, the Cimmaron Valley Clipper, the Beaver Democrat, the Wapanucka Press, Renfrew's Review in Alva, the Stigler State Sentinel, the Mountain View Times, the Norman Daily Transcript, and the Apache Week's Review.

"The Rubber Stamp Gore Used" by Chester Gould, July, 1920

All six attack incumbent Senator Thomas P. Gore of Oklahoma, who was challenged for reelection to a third term by Congressman Scott Ferris in the August 3 Democratic primary. The "Rubber Stamp" cartoon refers to a congressional resolution Senator Gore and Representative Atkins Jefferson McLemore of Texas introduced in 1914 in an effort to prevent the United States from being drawn into World War I. It would have banned Americans from traveling on armed merchant vessels or ships with contraband. For the most part, that meant British ships like the Lusitania, sunk by German U-boats one year later. Under pressure from President Woodrow Wilson however, both the House and Senate tabled the Gore-McLemore bill.

"Better Watch Out, Old Timer..." by Chester Gould, July, 1920

Gore, who ran for Congress in Mississippi as a Populist before joining the Democratic party and moving to Oklahoma, was elected to the Senate when Oklahoma became a state in 1907. He was blind, and a grandfather of author Gore Vidal. He was one of the first senators to endorse Woodrow Wilson's run for the presidency, in 1911, and was influential in Wilson's first term; but his strong antiwar stance before World War I and his isolationism afterward estranged him from the second term Wilson administration.

The note "Apol. to Knott" under Gould's signature in "Better Watch Out, Old Timer..." must refer either to John Knott of the Dallas News, or comic strip creator Jean Knott, one of whom who must have drawn a similar cartoon.

"That Won't Wash Off" by Chester Gould, July, 1920

Gould's cartoons attack Gore relentlessly for his prewar actions, such as the Senator's opposing military conscription, saying it would create "an army of conscripted slackers." Gore had asked: "Why should we brand the American boy as a conscript without affording him the opportunity to earn the glory of an American volunteer?" In addition to his opposition to the draft, Gore "was one of the earliest and most vigorous sponsors of a constitutional amendment to require a popular referendum on any congressional declaration of war."

"The Accusing Fingers from Flanders Field" by Chester Gould, July, 1920

By some freakish coincidence, the Ferris campaign's main attack against Gore was also over his antiwar statements and legislation. Both candidates complained loudly that the other was attacking him unfairly, while proclaiming that each himself had treated the other with the utmost respect and civility.

"Senator Gore Called Them 'Conscript Slackers'..." by Chester Gould, July, 1920

Given that these cartoons each appeared on the front page of so many Oklahoma newspapers in July, and that I haven't come across any Gould cartoons on any other topic, I have to conclude that the synergy between Gould's cartoons and the Ferris campaign is no coincidence at all. Bolstering my conclusion that Gould was working directly for the Ferris campaign is the Week's Review of Apache, Oklahoma: it ran the "Better Watch Out, Old Timer" cartoon atop its front page on July 23, but with the disclaimer "Political Advertising" beneath it. None of the other newspapers — some of which found reason to run Ferris's portrait on page one every day — ran such a disclaimer with any of these cartoons.

Which is not to say that other newspapers weren't just as brazen in their support of Senator Gore. Newspapers in those days were not the slightest bit shy about trumpeting their political allegiances. You can rest assured that not one of those pro-Gore newspapers ran the Gould cartoons.

Scott Ferris would emerge the victor in the August 3 primary, but then lost to Republican John Harreld in November. Gore won election to the Senate in 1930, but opposed Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs and was ousted again in the 1936 primary.

Q Toon: John Lewis

So many cartoons eulogizing Congressman John Lewis have focused on his work to advance the cause of civil rights for Black Americans. He was also in the vanguard of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, so I hope you will excuse yet one more drawing of him and that bridge.

Today's cartoon quotes from a column Congressman Lewis wrote in the October 25, 2003 edition of  the Boston Globe, "At a Crossroads on Gay Unions."

The column itself cribs extensively from a floor speech Lewis gave in the House of Representatives against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, way back in 1996:

"Marriage is a basic human right. You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used to say, of people talking about interracial marriages, I quote: 'Races do not fall in love and get married. Individuals fall in love and get married.' Why don't you want your fellow men and women, your fellow Americans, to be happy? Why do you attack them? Why do you want to destroy the love they hold in their hearts? Why do you want to crush their hopes, their dreams, their loves, their aspirations? ...
I fought too hard and too long against discrimination based on race and color [not] to stand up against discrimination based on sexual orientation. I've known racism. I've known bigotry. This bill stinks to the same fear, hatred and intolerance."

This is the kind of thing that earned him the sobriquet "The Conscience of the House." LGBTQ+ rights have come a long way since 1996: in spite of Lewis's speech, 118 Democrats joined 224 Republicans in voting for that odious bill. Only 65 Democrats and one Republican voted against it. (Two Democrats voted "present"; 22 Democrats and nine Republicans missed the vote.)

Many state legislators showed the same willingness to knuckle under to antigay bigotry as one state after another passed its own version of DOMA. And that included many legislators who claimed to be straight allies of the LGBTQ+ community.

Lewis ended his column in the Boston Globe on much the same note as his 1996 floor speech:

"Rather than divide and discriminate, let us come together and create one nation. We are all one people. We all live in the American house. We are all the American family."  

This Week's Sneak Peek

This week's cartoon promises to be rather wordy.