This Week's Sneak Peek

 Keep Labor in Labor Day!

The Front Porch Campaign

You, if you happen to be the most corrupt president in the history of the United States, might mock Joe Biden for (supposedly) campaigning from his basement this summer. But in a way, Biden's low-travel campaign hearkens back to the way things were a century ago. As this year's campaign kicks off in earnest, here's what editorial cartoons had to say about the campaigns of 1920.

"And Everybody Was Expecting Turmoil" by Billy Ireland in Columbus Dispatch, August, 1920

I've enlarged Mrs. Buckeye's dialogue balloon, but since it's still hard to read on most screens, I'll copy it here: "Everybody said when they heard it was twins that we Buckeyes were in for an awful busy summer but things have been slipping along so quiet you wouldn't know the twins were in the house!"

"Interpreting the Oracle" by Rollin Kirby in New York World, August, 1920

Warren Harding's front porch campaign was itself a throwback to an earlier time. William Jennings Bryan and Teddy Roosevelt embraced the whistlestop style, campaigning to large crowds of citizens from the back of a train or in packed civic squares. Once upon a time, however, such pandering to the hoi polloi was considered beneath the dignity of the presidency. Campaigning was done by surrogates — assuming that the candidate's message remained intact through the surrogates' interpretation.

"The Burning Question" by Clifford Berryman in Washington (D.C.) Evening Post, August 17, 1920

Harding promised a return to what he called "normalcy," adding a new word to the English language. What "normalcy" would look like was largely up to the voter's imagination. 

Mr. Harding would in fact venture out on the hustings in September, not unlike the tradition up until recently of starting the presidential campaign in earnest only after Labor Day. The Democratic ticket, however, was already waging a much more active campaign.

"The Beauty and the Bathers" by Jay N. "Ding" Darling in Colliers, September 4, 1920

This is an unusual cartoon in that "Ding" Darling includes the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. There have occasionally been editorial cartoonists who drew the Veep candidate often (e.g., Thomas Nast and B. Gratz Brown; R.C. Bowman and Adlai Stevenson); but as a rule, you didn't find a lot of ink spent on the #2 spot on the ticket.

I'll be surprised if I run across any more cartoons about either FDR or Calvin Coolidge between now and — frankly — the centennial of Harding's demise.

"What's Detaining You?" by T.E. Powers for Star Company, ca. Sept. 2, 1920

Whether the U.S. ought to join the League of Nations may have been the dominant issue in the 1920 campaign, but there were others.

"Everything but the Crowd" by Albert T. Reid in The National Republican, ca. August 27, 1920

Republican cartoonist Albert Reid crammed as many complaints against the Democratic Party as he possibly could into this cartoon, and you can easily imagine Antonio Branco, Ben Garrison, Mike Lester, or any of the other partisan Republican cartoonists regurgitating the same cartoon today. Just replace Cox with Biden, Europe and the League of Nations with China and the World Health Organization, and Murphy and Taggart with Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

"The Dickens of It..." by Jay N. "Ding" Darling in New York Tribune, August, 1920

Darling here packed in even more "political garbage" than is in Reid's sideshow; "U.S. Snail Service" taking up the left barge resonates anew today. Yet there is a distinct sense in this cartoon that the Democratic nominee is saddled with "8 years accumulation of political garbage" unfairly. Cox wields his "League Issue" oars against the "tide of public opinion that the Democrats have bungled"; Democratic bungling is not presented as actual fact.

Darling, a loyal Republican, departed from most of his party on the issue of the League of Nations. He did not support Warren Harding, although he was ultimately not impressed with James Cox, either.

"Vox Pop Versus Vox Cox" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, ca. Sept. 1, 1920

John McCutcheon put forth the same vague sentiment as the tide of public feeling, but without bothering to mention any specifics. "Solid South" demands "four more years of office holding," while Cox complains that "The Republicans are trying to buy you." More on that in a moment.

"The New Housekeeper" by Cyrus Hungerford in Pittsburgh Sun, September 4, 1920

The ratification of the 19th Amendment added a new wrinkle to political prognostication. Plenty of cartoons poked fun at couples whose votes would now cancel each other out; Cy Hungerford instead predicted that women's role would be to clean up the mess menfolk had made of things.

"The New Campaign Issue" by Ted Brown in Chicago Daily News, Aug./Sept., 1920

James Cox tried to add another issue to the campaign, accusing Republicans of amassing a $16 million slush fund. The GOP denied it, and when Cox personal representative E.H. Moore testified before a congressional committee, he proved short on specifics.

"The Old Porch Chair" by Rollin Kirby in New York World, Sept. 4, 1920

What one believed depended upon what one was predisposed to believe. (Sound familiar?)

"It Almost Awakened the Dog" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, Sept. 4, 1920

Since it is Labor Day weekend, let's close today's entry off with an election year labor cartoon from the summer of 1920.

"Labor's Laboratory" by Wallen for Labor Feature Service, August, 1920

Keep the Labor in Labor Day, and have a safe and happy weekend!

Q Toon: Count Your Blessings

 

By now, every possible joke about Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr. watching his wife cuckold him with the pool boy has been done to death. 

But in these dark times, we all need the comfort and solace of knowing that someone who richly deserves it is having a worse day than we are. So here's one more.

You'll Know Whom to Blame

 Ask Hillary how this works out.

This Week's Sneak Peek

This has nothing to do with This Week's Sneak Peek, but have you noticed how time and time again, Trumpsters say that a primary reason that they support Donald Trump is because "he sticks it to the liberals"?

GREENE: What draws you to him? Like, if you were to talk about why you were going to cast a vote...

MARY JEAN: Well, he's a New Yorker. And he pisses people off, like, to no end. And...

GREENE: And you like that?

MARY JEAN: Yeah. I find him hysterical. My husband and I would sit here and laugh at him. They don't get his jokes. And people, like, go, oh, he said this. No. He was joking. It's like he kind of goes - he has a crassness about him that I kind of like, being a New Jersey girl (laughter). So I kind of like that.

In eight years of the Obama presidency, did you ever once hear anyone talk about how great it was to have a president who "sticks it to" conservatives? No. Barack Obama actually tried to get along with them. He came to office in a time of national crisis and named three Republicans to his cabinet (only to have Republicans decide that bipartisan cooperation was bad for the party).

You can buy "Make Liberals Cry Again" bumper stickers for your car, and a wide variety of "Fuck Liberals" t-shirts. You can even ruin the family Christmas with "Trump-Pence Snowflake Gift Wrap." And in case you want to argue that it's all harmless fun, the kid accused of murdering protesters in Kenosha is said to enjoy "Triggering the Libs." This time, he used an AR-15.

Trump l'oeilists drove through a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, Oregon last night, spewing pepper spray at peaceful protesters. Can you imagine the uproar if liberals had driven through the "Reopen" rallies doing that back in May? 

I suppose it might have gotten them to wear masks, though.

This "stick it to liberals" is by no means unique to Donald Trump. Here in Wisconsin, we remember back in the 1990's when Republican Governor Tommy Thompson campaigned for the five-county stadium surtax by telling folks outside the southeast corner of the state that the surtax was an opportunity to "stick it to 'em" in Milwaukee.

And the folks in Red Wisconsin ate it up.

But at least Thompson later apologized for his "poor choice of words."

Trump could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue ― by mistake ― and he still would never apologize for it.

And now he's bringing his crass ass here to Kenosha tomorrow to see how his pissing people off can boost his presidential campaign. God help us.

The Russo-Polish War

In spite of Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations, the years between the two World Wars were anything but peaceful. By August, 1920, hostilities between Poland and Soviet Russia had been flaring up for a year and a half; Poland sought to annex Ukraine and establish mutual defense arrangements with the Baltic states against Russia and Germany, while the Soviets wanted to push their revolution through Poland ―На Запад!  ―into Central and Western Europe.

"Another Case of the Bald-Headed Barber" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, ca. August, 1920

Polish and Ukrainian nationalist forces occupied Kiev on May 7, but were beaten back by the Soviet army thereafter. The Soviets could almost taste victory, foreseeing an easy march "over the corpse of Poland" to Berlin, Paris and London.

Detail from "Cartoons of the Day" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, ca. Aug. 19, 1920

Once Russian armies pressed into Poland, the U.S., British and French governments threatened to come to Poland's defense if Russia didn't cease fire and come to the western powers' negotiating table. The western powers, however, had no domestic support whatsoever for another war, so Russia said thanks but no thanks. Confident of defeating the Poles, Russia would negotiate only with its sure-to-be-vanquished foe.

"Die Polenschlacht" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderatatsch, Berlin, August 15, 1920

Then, in August, the tide of battle turned again.

"They Met with the First Obstacle..." by Dorman Smith in Des Moines News, Aug., 1920

Polish military intelligence cracked the code the Soviet army was using, and were able to counter the Russians' planned attacks. The surprised Russians retreated in chaos. 

"Stung" by Sam Armstrong in Tacoma News-Tribune, August, 1920

As Polish advances continued into September (and into Belarus), Lenin sued for peace. 

"Maybe I Can Get Better Terms Now" by Clifford Berryman in Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, August 21, 1920

Poland successfully defended its territory, but by the same token, the Soviets repulsed Polish advances into Russian territory. The Treaty of Riga awarded Poland territory in what is now Lithuania (including Vilnius), Belorus (within spitting distance of Minsk) and western Ukraine. In addition to souring relations with Lithuania, by reaching a separate treaty with Russia, Poland broke its military alliance with Ukraine. 

By thus alienating its neighbors, Poland in victory sowed the seeds of its own defeat at the outset of the next World War.

"The Inseparables" by David Low in The Sun, London, by August, 1920

I won't leap ahead to "Rendezvous," David Low's famous cartoon about the 1939 partition of Poland, but here's one from 1920. Low here has adopted the style for which he is best remembered.

And before I sign off for today, one note about Dorman H. Smith's cartoon. It appeared in Cartoons Magazine wrongly attributed to R. O. Evans of the Baltimore Sun. Biographical information about Smith states that he sold his first drawing at the age of 17 — that would have been in 1909 or 1910 — and that the Newspaper Enterprise Association started syndicating his cartoons in 1921. In the December, 1920 issue, the cut line under another Dorman Smith cartoon in an advertisement for the Landon Course of Cartooning (page 6) states that it appeared in the Des Moines News; The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons by Maurice Horn also states that Smith drew for the Des Moines News from 1919 to 1921.

Q Toon: Trump's Gay Outreach Around

Gay Republican operative Ric Grenell, lately on this blog for having come up with the Corrupt Trump Administration's tepid advocacy for international decriminalization of homosexuality, has quit his job as Jack McFarland of All Trades at the State Department to take on the unenviable role of LGBTQ+ Outreach for the Trump reelection campaign.

Ironically, with a straight face.

"As America's first openly-gay cabinet member, I can confidently say that President Trump has done more for gay and lesbian Americans than any other president, and it is not even close," Grenell said in a statement to Fox News.

Grenell went on to slam Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, saying that during his "four decades in Washington, he consistently fought against marriage equality and even threatened to cut funding for schools who taught acceptance of homosexuality."

"From President Trump's global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality to becoming the first president to support gay marriage on his first day in office, he has been a champion for our community and I am thrilled to be part of the fight to re-elect him for four more years," Grenell said.

One has to wonder who is going to continue Mr. Grinell's campaign to decriminalize homosexuality around the world now that he's no longer Ambassador to Germany, Special Envoy to Kosovo and Serbia, and Acting Director of National Intelligence. Mike Pompeo? Ha! 

There hasn't been much to show for Grinell's efforts: Chechnya continues its pogrom against LGBTQ+ Chechens; and Russia, Poland, most of the Islamic world, and most of Africa haven't lessened the persecution of their LGBTQ+ citizens, either.

Perhaps his campaign could maybe just possibly have been a factor in swaying the High Court of Botswana to his point of view last year; but I imagine the justices were more influenced by the example of the country's neighbor South Africa, which decriminalized homosexuality back in 1998.

But don't plan your wedding in Gaborone just yet. Thanks to COVID-19, Americans are barred from entering Botswana (as are non-citizens arriving from Austria, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom).

Ah, well. At least Mr. Grinell made no pretense that the Corrupt Trump Administration has been anything other than overtly hostile to the T, Q, and + elements of our community. But if it's fair game to "slam" Joe Biden for having opposed marriage equality while in the Senate, it's also fair to note that Biden came to support marriage equality while Trump was still opposing it on the grounds that ... uh, something to do with long putters in golf.

One also has to wonder how Mr. Grinell explains the Corrupt Trump Administration's actions to remove sexual orientation and gender identity protections under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; to ban trans girls and women from participating in sports; to deny healthcare protections to transgender Americans; to roll back protections for trans students; to ban transgender people from the military; to strip children of bi-national same-sex couples of American citizenship; etc., etc., etc.