On May 9, 1974, the Pennsylvania Gazette published an editorial regarding the lack of unity in the colonies. The author, Benjamin Franklin, also provided a woodcut drawing of a snake cut into eight initialed parts (one for each colonial government) with the text “Join, or Die” underneath.
The article’s politics were ignored, but the drawing lived on, with modifications, to become a rallying point for different political causes. It was also, author Donald Dewey presents, the first example of the American political cartoon.
In The Art of Ill Will, Dewey follows the political cartoon’s path onward to present day in (sometimes painful) detail, providing many rare graphic examples of American political cartoons. The book covers many widely unknown political battles and scandals as well as cartoons that steered and swayed mass opinion with a one-panel drawing.
A mix of cartoons and American history, the format leans towards the latter (the introduction alone is 73 pages). Several noted cartoons are included: Bill Maudlin’s text-less portrait of the Lincoln Memorial after Kennedy’s assassination, Paul Conrad’s portrayal of Nixon as Hamlet, and James Montgomery Flagg’s “I Want You” (he used himself as the model for Uncle Sam).
-Chris Force
The Art of Ill Will: The Story of American Political Cartoons
Donald Dewey
Paperback, 304 pages
$34.95, NYU Press
NYU Press: www.nyupress.org