Vietnam War Jabs and Washington Spending: The Art of Editorial Cartoons

Nov. 2, 2006 — -- Every day on the editorial pages of most newspapers in America, you will find political cartoons.

They may make you laugh, or make you mad, but a good one always makes you think.

Some of the best political cartoons in American history are on display at the Library of Congress and on its Web site beginning today. They are part of a larger exhibition called "Cartoon America," which includes 100 editorial cartoons from cartoonist Art Wood's collection.

The editorial was born in the 1870s as the result of a scandal that engulfed a New York politician named William Tweed. He was implicated in the disappearance of more than 200 million taxpayers' dollars.

The scandal cost Tweed his career and landed him in jail. Many attribute his downfall to a series of editorial cartoons by Thomas Nast called "Tammany Ring."

Tweed was attributed with exclaiming, "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents can't read, but damn it, they can see pictures!"

The vilification of the editorial cartoon by a politician just sealed its fate in shaping political debate in this country. A tour of the exhibit reveals that history does, indeed, repeat itself.

There's one cartoon from 1965 that depicts a ferocious tiger and President Johnson holding on to the end of its tail for dear life. Splashed across the tiger's coat is the word, Vietnam, with the tag line, "but how to let go gracefully."

Library of Congress curator Sara Duke said this was an issue that's "on the minds of people very much at the moment."

Another drawing in the exhibit shows President Nixon on a podium with domestic oil companies nearby dropping dollars into an oil tanker labeled "political contributions."

"It reminds us that the more things change, the less things change," Duke said.

A perfect example of that sentiment comes in an Art Wood cartoon addressing the age-old question, "Why when I put so much money into Washington D.C., do I get so little back?"

The cartoon shows dollars being stuffed into a money changer that ultimately spits out just a single coin.