Editorial Cartoons: Art as Satire | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's. here, too. And uh this is Stuff You. Should Know. And. um that's it. It's the And. edition. Yeah, this is about uh. editorial cartoons, aka political. cartoons. uh they are one and the same. They're.

you know usually appear in the. traditionally in the editorial section. or the opinion section of newspapers. So. that's why you can call them either. And. this is a a profession that that appears. to be dying out if you look at the. number of editorial cartoonists that are. like full-time staffed at major. newspapers, right? Uh because there used. to be more than 2,000 about a hundred. years ago. Now there's less than 20. Uh, and Dave, you know, helped us with this. and found that stat and I think we were.

both initially like, "Oh my god, they're. all going away." Um, not necessarily. true. Those are full-time staffers on. newspapers. Newspapers are in trouble. So, that's a big reason why, and we'll. get to that, but there are still plenty. of editorial cartoonists and political. cartoonists, uh, mainly working online, right? Uh, yeah. And for syndication. companies, like you can work for a. syndicate and they'll distribute it to. newspapers that want to run your. political cartoon just like with comics. Yeah. So it's I won't say like it it.

we're at peak uh the golden age of it, but it's it's still alive and well and. just sort of a different form. Yeah. I've seen the golden age referred to um. as in the 19th century and I'm like. these people didn't live through the. 80s. That was the golden age, baby. Oh man, I. saw if I had a dime for every like uh. cartoonish drawing of Tip O'Neal or. Ronald Reagan I saw growing up as a kid, right? I didn't even like who are these. people? Yeah. No, that's a really great. point that um the they editorial.

cartoons are like of the moment. sometimes like of the day where they. like they'll still make sense later that. week, but they're not hidden because. something already changed or moved on. and they don't as such. It's very rare. that an editorial cartoon um can still. like land the way it originally did. That means that whatever it was talking. about was so historic that people. decades on know what the what like the. ins and outs of it that the the.

political cartoon is referring to. But. for the most part, it's like daily. minutia of ongoing politics and. government. And if you just go back like. 10 or 15 years, it's like I forgot John. Boehner even existed, right? Until I. went back and looked at some of the old. political cartoons and it's so important. at the time, but you know, all these. years on it does not matter what that. political cartoon was saying. At the. time it wasn't. That's a huge point. about those things. That's why Michael.

Dukakus drove a tank. I remember that. Who's Michael Dukakus? Yeah, I remember. And Kitty, that's funny stuff. Uh oh. yeah, his wife Kitty. That's right. Uh. and uh Dan Quail spells potato wrong. Like it's so funny to kind of think. about the the greatest political hits of. our childhood. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's. really far away, Chuck. Yeah. But like. you said, it's sort of like greatest. hits. You can look back at some Nixon. Watergate political cartoons and totally. get it and they land. Uh but they're not.

always funny. And that's the whole point. of this or not the whole point, but it. it's satire. It's um satire can be super. super funny like if you read The Onion. or something like that or a well-made. satirical film or television show. Um. but it's a different kind of humor. A. lot of times satire isn't necessarily. laugh out loud stuff because the point. of satire usually is to influence what. somebody thinks about something through. in this case an image, right? Um, one of.

the explanations I saw for satire is. that it uses like a a surface level. presentation of a point to point out. that the counterpoint is actually the. more sensible thing. I I can if I thought about that and saw. it written down, I could probably figure. out exactly. Okay, I've got one for you. Alexander Pope said, "Praise undeserved. is satire in disguise.". No, still nothing. Okay, go watch the. movie Soul Plane or Brian's Song and you.

will know what I'm talking about with. satire. Brian Song, you know, they used to use. that in crying studies. That's the the. one thing I remember about Brian Song. was when I was a kid, I saw a news. report where they're like, "This new. movie is so sad." And it showed people. like in a room watching Brian Song with. these little uh tear gutters strapped to. their face. Yeah. and just like balling. at that movie. And I'm sure the. political cartoon of the day about that.

had people crying and somebody said, "Are they watching Brian's song?" And. the guy says, "No, they just found out. Ronald Reagan was reelected governor.". Well, we also, you and I are uh as we. said on record many times before, grew. up as adherence to Mad Magazine and they. didn't I mean they did political. cartoons essentially. It just wasn't for. a newspaper, but there was plenty of. that stuff in there. Nice point. Um, one. of the other things about political. cartoons is um, they they present an.

opinion. They do it in a way that's. humorous, that's recognizable. You don't. have to know how to read, which was for. a long time the the point of political. cartoons. And uh, it's it's presented in a way so. that it takes everything you know. It. makes assumptions about what you know, but usually they're pretty good at that. And it it takes everything you know and. and can turn it on its head. can point. out the folly, the ridiculousness of. usually governments, politicians, policies, that kind of stuff. But.

sometimes it's aimed unfairly at groups. of people. Um the the other point about. it is that the the actual like types of. art it uses have been shown to. neurologically like hit us different. than say like a photograph. Yeah. Like car when you draw a. caricature of someone or exaggerate. Exaggerate. That was beautiful. The three-year-old. if you exaggerate something. Wait, hold. on.

Right. You can't do it as well as you. That's right. That's pretty good. Uh. yeah, it's it's uh has more of a like. neurologically more of an impact than an. actual photograph of somebody doing. something even ridiculous. Yeah. It's. called a supernormal stimulus or a super. stimuli which is it it just hits your. brain that much harder. And so the the. caricature like it just something people. just figured out over time building. little by little to create like the.

optimal political cartoon which. apparently popped up around the 1950s. Well, or the if you go to, you know, a. theme park or or the streets of Paris or. something and you see a caricature. artist parked next to the realistic like. I'll do a realistic pencil sketch of. you. Yeah. You got like one person over. there. You got 10 people in line trying. to get their a big old fathead version. of themselves. Yeah. Cuz they want to be. super stimulated. Uh can I amend one thing that you said?

Um you said that they use humor. Um, almost always that's the case. But, uh, some of my favorite political cartoons. over the years, sometimes they'll have. just the really brutally gut punchy, sad. ones. Yes. That are very, very. effective, you know. Hilarious. No. Yeah. No, they definitely It doesn't. always have to be humor. You're right. For sure. But it what it always has to. do is prove some kind of a point. There's never a political cartoon that's.

like, "Oh, this is just funny." or. something. Uh cuz that's a comic strip. That's Family Circus. Exactly. Um so I. say we go back way back to um. potentially the the origin of political. cartoons which were religious in nature. because back in the 16th century when. Martin Luther was trying to reform the. the Catholic Church and ended up just. kind of spinning off his own jam, um pol. religion was politics. They were. interchangeable. It was one and the.

same. So when he started um uh printing. woodcut cartoons that were really. unflattering depictions of the pope and. the bishops and the cardinals who aided. the pope um he was making a political. statement. And so some people say that. that some of these prints from like way. back in 1545, there's one called the. birth and origin of the pope. um that. this was essentially the first political. cartoon ever printed because that's. another thing too. You have to have a.

mass medium to spread this idea. Um and. so this was shortly after the printing. press was invented and almost off the. bat Martin Luther was among the people. who were using it to make political. statements using cartoons. That's right. And uh if you're at home saying like, I. bet he did that because so many people. couldn't read yet. You're exactly right. Uh the printing press was brand new and. that changed uh literacy uh for the.

world basically, but right after it was. invented, a lot of people still couldn't. read. And so he knew that if he wanted. to hit his target audience in the right. way, uh the birth and origin of the pope. was a good way to do it. We'll we'll. describe a few of these that are sort of. easy to picture. Um we're not going to. get in the weeds, I think, kind of. describing in detail pictures on a audio. show, but uh this one is very simple. It. was the pope and the cardinals um being. pooped out by a sheevil and then yeah. and then nursed by other shevils.

Medusa's breastfeeding. It looks like a. bishop in one one part of this. It's uh. it's really something. And um that was I. think I think I said 1545. and then nothing happened for 200 years, right? And then a guy came along named. William Hoggarth. And those of you who. really really really pay attention to. the stuff we say um might might um find. that that name rings a bell. And that. would be because we talked about William.

Hogarth in our Jin episode. That's right. Uh there was a political. cartoon he drew uh about, you know, drunks basically uh living at the corner. of Beer Street in Jin Lane. And that was. Hoggarth who's considered the. grandfather uh of political cartoons. He. was a serious painter, but then he got. into making fun of of rich folks in. London. Uh yes, for sure. And he also it. was a social commentary. So it was. satire. It was exaggerated. That's.

another kind of key uh part of political. cartoons. Um and it it made a point. about in this case society rather than. politics. Um, and so as as a result, William Hogarth is considered the. grandfather of political cartoons. He. was not making political cartoons, but. he definitely set out some of the points. on the table that would later be picked. up actually fairly quickly um by. printers, publishers, and cartoonists.

Among whom was uh Benjamin Franklin who. started he ran what's considered the. first American uh political cartoon back. in 1754. Yeah. So that was only you know a couple. of decades after Hoggarth man. Hogartharts, Hogwarts, uh, his earliest work. So, it was sort. of in the same era. And as we all know, or maybe some people don't know this, Benjamin Franklin ran a newspaper. Yeah.

Uh, the Philadelphia Gazette. And it was. a cartoon. It was a It was a cutup. rattlesnake with each section of the. snake uh, being a colony, like, you. know, New York. It had the abbreviation. of the colony. And it said join or die, right? and it was, you know, to try and. rally people to unify against uh France. um in the leadup to the French and. Indian War. And he is credited as uh. even though he he probably didn't draw. this thing, he ran it, he is credited. for making the rattlesnake a popular. symbol for the colonies of the United.

the well not United States yet, the. colonies. That's all I need to say. And. that's a pretty famous image, that cut. up snake as far as um the US is. concerned. Um, but that was almost like. a little uh side step for political. cartoons because again nothing happened. for a good 50 years. And then along came. James Gilray. He is considered the. father of political cartoons. He was. drawing satirical images to lampoon and. point out the folly of um people in.

charge. In this case, the um King George. III was his favorite um his favorite. target because he was British. He was. also anticolonial, too. Um and so there. was one very famous one that he did that. depicts um the prime minister at the. time, William Pit, with Napoleon carving. up the world to eat. Yeah. It's in the. form of a plum pudding, also known as. plum poutine. And um Pit and Napoleon. are are sitting at a table carving it up.

just greedily eating the rest of the. world. And apparently Napoleon was well. aware of James Gilray because he had a. pretty great quote, didn't he? Uh yeah, I used to do a good Napoleon. I'm not. going to try though. Really? Uh he said. he he that Gilray did more than all the. armies of Europe to bring me down. Mhm. Uh, and if you look at this cartoon, it's uh, it it really sort of looks like. what we know as a modern political. editorial cartoon. Uh, it's really. really cool looking. It looks great. The.

art is great, but it just it sort of has. that look. It seems like one of the or. probably the first person who was making. these cartoons that look like what we. have today, right? That's why Gil is. considered the father of the whole. thing. That's right. and he came around. I think that the plum pudding in danger. was the name of the one we were just. talking about that was in 1805 and at. the same time magazines started um being. established and founded around this time. that were dedicated to satire. So the.

the form the art form of political. cartoons and political satirical. magazines came together at the very. beginning of the 19th century not just. in Britain but France. Turns out France. is basically the the spears point of. satire. Yeah. Did not know that. But. that's it's the truth. Everybody, I. remember when the Charlie Hebdo stuff. came out, and we're going to talk about. that toward in the act three here, but. uh that's when I sort of learned like. how, you know, astute and on point their.

satire had been for a long long time. I. didn't know that previously. Right. Yeah. Doesn't seem like a very French. thing, but I don't know, maybe it is. I. didn't either. But there was a guy from. uh the early 19th century I think named. uh Anor Domiierre. Uh and Domiierre um. actually got in trouble. I think he. actually went to prison for um for his. political cartoons. Right. Yeah. In the. 1830s they the French government sort of. relaxed their laws against censorship.

and so he had a little bit more um. leeway I guess to operate. Mhm. And. initially in 1831, he was threatened. with a 6,000 Frank fine in 1831. That's. I don't know what the conversion is, but. that's got to be a lot of dough. It's. $45,000 US today, which you'd think it'd. be way more, but that's what Did you. really do that? I found a Swedish. currency converter, historic currency. converter. So inflation and currency.

conversions. Yes. Amazing. And that's. why you're Josh Clark. I didn't make. this restaurant. I just used it. Uh. 6,000 Frank fine. He drew a caricature. of King uh Louie Felipe uh with a pair. for a head. And then when he was. threatened with his fine, he put out a. possibly one of the first or the first. multi-panel cartoon uh a four panel. cartoon showing the the metamorphosis. from this king going like he's the king.

as a caricature and now he looks a. little more like a pair. A little more. like a pair and then he just has a pair. for a head. Yeah. And the whole point. was, come on. Like, the guy looks like a. pear and it's ridiculous that you would. try to find me $6,000 for pointing out. something so obvious. Yeah. And I guess. he avoided that fine um at the time. But. afterward, he's like, "Okay, I really. need to to get in trouble, so I'm going. to um create one called.

Gargantua." And this one was way worse. than than saying the king looks like he. has a pair for a head. This was the king. giant like gorging himself on taxes that. were being fed directly to him by the. poor people. He's sitting on his throne. and then he's pooping out um like tax. breaks and and um special treatment for. the wealthy um friends of his. And that. one got him in trouble. Yeah, it's a. good cartoon. And it's it's like it's a.

ramp from the ground straight up to this. giant's mouth with people in their. wheelbarrows just like walking up and. getting in his mouth and being pooped. out as as uh spoils. It's a great great. piece of art, too. Yeah. Not just the. the political version of it, political. aspect. It's beautiful as as far as art. goes. But that got him six months in the. Huskow. Uh but they let him out and he. started working again. Uh, King Phipe. was asked about this and you know kind. of like why are you cracking down on. this? But people can have a a pamphlet.

printed with words that are very. critical of you and he said a pamphlet. is no more than a violation of opinion. A caricature amounts to an act of. violence. You started out with almost a French. accent there for a second and then I. debated it then I came back and then it. was British for a hot second and then it. was just regal. General Regal. Yeah, it. really did evolve that quickly, too. Failed. So, yeah, King Louis Phipe put. his finger on something that that.

there's something special or something. different about a political cartoon that. is way different than say a news article. or even a photograph. Um, you know, you. can make the point the news article for. centuries and centuries could only be. read by a select number of people. Everybody could get a political cartoon. But there's something more than that, too. There's there's just something. about a political cartoon that people. who've been taken down by political. cartoons have have been able to put. their finger on and and said there's.

this is way worse than just writing. about me for some reason. Yeah. I I. think that tracks too even to like if. you think about in in like high school. uh if a teacher caught you writing like. a note to your friend that said you know. Mr. Clark is such a jerk. I think that would be taken different. than if someone drew a picture of Mr. Clark like bent over being paddled by a. line of students or something, you know? Uh, don't you think? Yeah. No, would it.

be equal? No, it would it'd be equal. unless you put like stink lines coming. off of me and then would be really. hurtful. Oh, man. Stink lines. Who was. the first person to do the stink lines? I don't know. I'll bet it was a. political cartoonist who wasn't that. great. Uh, should we take a break? Yeah, let's take a break and we'll come back. and talk about one of the more famous. political cartoonists of all time, Thomas. [Music].

Nast. Lately, I've been learning some. stuff about insomnia or aluminia. How about the one on borderline. disorder? A better yet reporter. Heard. that one before, but it was so nice. I. learned it. twice. Everybody listen. [Music].

up. Oh, it's. Charles. It's stop. All right, we're back. Uh Josh promised. talk of Thomas Nast. Uh he's the most. famous American political cartoonist. probably very influential um cartoonist. of the 19th century and that's you know. early on you were like what what was. going on back then? Um well the Civil. War was going on back then and he was a. German immigrant who uh drew for.

Harper's Weekly when Harper's Weekly was. really growing in their readership uh. with a lot of pro-UN political cartoons. Yeah. Um there was one that I think kind. of tracks with what you were saying. that's not at all funny but it's super. poignant, right? Called Compromise with. the South. Yeah. Um the Democrats had. run on a platform that the Civil War had. been a failure up to this point for the. 1864 election when Lincoln was standing.

for reelection and that we should um. basically work with the South to just. forget about the Civil War and and end. this. And Thomas Nest didn't like that. one bit. So this compromise with the. south image shows a um a. amputee uh Union soldier who's standing. on a crutch shaking hands with his head. bowed shaking hands with a triumphant um. Confederate officer who's got Jefferson. Davis is it Jefferson Davis? He's got. like his his boot standing one foot on.

on a Union soldiers grave and Colombia. who represents the United States is. weeping at that grave. And then also. poignantly, there's a Union soldier, an. African-American Union soldier and his. wife who are now on the southern side, and they're shackled. It's back to being. slaves. So, it's a gut punch, man. It. is. It's a it's it's it's a really good. example of a a political cartoon that. isn't funny, but really gets the point. across. And apparently, it had a huge. impact on America, especially the Union.

Right. Yeah. I mean, some people say. that had a lot to do with Lincoln. getting reelected. Uh, Lincoln referred. to Thomas Nast at one point as our best. recruiting agent. And in the 1868. election, uh, Ulysius S. Grant credited. his win uh, to the sword of Sheridan and. the pencil of Nast. Yeah. Uh, I had. never heard of Colombia. Uh, but you'll. see in a lot of these political. cartoons, Colombia as a representation.

of America was used a lot. And I think. this is just a guess. I didn't look it. up, but it seems like Lady Liberty, Statue of Liberty has sort of replaced. Colombia uh as far as the cartoon ship. goes because anytime there's like a sort. of one of the sad gut punch ones, it's. some shameful thing America has done and. like Lady Liberty is crying somewhere or. something like that. Yeah. Um, I think. Uncle Sam also displaced uh Colia as. well. And Thomas Nast is the one who um. who popularized the current image of.

Uncle Sam with his hat. And that's. right. All that. That was Thomas Nast as. well. He had a huge huge impact as a. political cartoonist. Well, he did the. he was the guy who came up with the um. elephant and the donkey for the two. political parties. That's right. and. also popularized our current conception, American conception of Santa Claus. Yeah. Because remember, German. immigrants are the ones who really. brought Christmas to the United States.

And Thomas Nest was a German immigrant, so he loved Christmas. And uh yeah, he. gave us our version of Santa Claus. The. thing that he's most remembered for as a. political cartoonist though is that he. is credited with um taking down uh. William Boss Tweed, who is one of the. most corrupt political officials in the. history of the United States. Apparently, in a decade, he is thought. to have stolen a billion dollars from. New York City in today's money. That's.

incredible. Yeah, he's popped up a lot. in our obviously our New York centric. episodes about the history of New York. Uh very corrupt person for the you know. Tamony Hall political machine and I. think Nast had more than 140 boss Tweed. cartoons alone in harbors. Yeah. So uh. yeah it was a it was a big deal. Boss. Tweed very much like King Louie Phipe. was aware that like these things were. having an effect on him and he. apparently said stop them damn pictures.

I don't care a straw for your newspaper. articles. My constituents can't read, but they can't help seeing them damn. pictures. And I mean, there was a lot of. reporting uh at the time by some of the. New York. newspapers about Boss Tweed, and they. definitely had some effect on getting. him investigated and ultimately put into. prison where he died. But um the like. you really can't um like you could put. all those articles and combine them.

pretty much equally with Thomas Nast's. political cartoons and and be like this. is what what took down boss treat these. two things basically equally. Yeah, for. sure. Uh and you know there a lot of. times I think people think about. political cartoons as coming from the. political left or uh you know the. liberal progressive side and that is. certainly true but there you know all. kinds of newspapers have always had. political cartoons and all sorts of. issues have been attacked from all. angles from political cartoonists over.

the years have been you know plenty of. examples of both NAS was one of those. that was sort of a contradiction. Um. there's, you know, we'll talk a little. bit about immigration and political. cartoons throughout history, and he was. one who kind of hit it from both sides. He he he would draw one one year in. 1870, um criticizing. anti-immigration, uh the the Nothing. Party, and that was called throwing down. the ladder by which they rose, and about. a year later had political cartoons out.

um you know, criticizing Irish. immigrants as violent drunks taking over. the country. Right. Um Yeah. Yeah. And. this was a time when when immigration. was huge huge issue in the United States. for probably the first time it would. became like a flashoint like issue that. you could run an entire campaign on. Yeah. Yeah. For example, there was a a a. cartoon from 1903 in a a satirical. weekly called Judge called Unrestricted. Dumping Ground. Man, this one's tough.

It is. And there's a lot going on in. this Yeah. cartoon. Um there's it's. color which is it really pops. But Uncle. Sam is basically standing at the shores. of the United States and there's a bunch. of immigrants swimming to the shore, but. they're rats with human faces, which. number one is unsettling, but number two. is really offensive. And they're being. dumped out of a basically it looks. almost like a mailbox or something that. says the slums of Europe. Uh and they're.

they're they're being dumped into New. York Harbor. And Uncle Sam's just. standing there watching, wondering if he. can do anything about it. And then. William McKinley is floating in like a. cloud. The reason William McKinley was. featured is because he was president. He. was assassinated by a guy named Leo. Cholosh uh in 1899. And Cholgosh was. born in Michigan, but he was considered. a uh an immigrant uh because his parents. were immigrants. So, like this was the. kind of stuff that was being run uh in.

papers and magazines at the time. basically saying like like immigrants. are rats and like you can't let them in. Yeah. Well, and those rats also, just to. further drive the point home, they had. labels on these individual uh human rats. that said like mafia, uh anarchist, socialist. So, it was, you know, pretty. um on the nose, I guess you could say, right? Uh there was another ad um as far. as the immigration front goes. Uh Teddy.

Roosevelt at one point talked about. hyphenated Americans u being able to. vote like that shouldn't happen. Irish. American, German American. And uh this. one was from Puck magazine, which was uh. was that American? Was that British? I. thought that was British. I think Punch. was British and Puck was American. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Punch was British. Um, but it had a caption again, Uncle Sam. saying, "Why should I let these freaks. vote when they're only half American, right?" Yeah, it's a Yeah, it's it's.

it's a really bizarre cartoon. It's. tough to describe, but go look that one. up. So, one of the other things we said. is is uh that political cartoons. sometimes also target policies, social. issues, and there was a really good one. that uh Dave turned up called From the. Cradle to the Mill that really got. across child labor or the need for child. labor laws. It's this innocent looking. little probably 5-year-old kid, I think. he's holding a teddy bear still, and. this dark ghoulish spirit named.

Necessity, like a grim reaper basically. Yeah. essentially has come into the. child's house and is taking him by the. hand to lead him off to the mill for. work. Um, and it really it gets the. point across like, you know, this was. from 1912 and if child labor was still. an issue today, you could run it today. It just really just captured what what. the problem was. Yeah. And this was a a. time, you know, we talked about the um. in in France, you know, when the when. the one political cartoonist was put in.

jail for six months. In America at this. point, there were limits on freedom of. speech. Uh so in 1917, that artist who. who drew that was targeted uh by the um. the fresh freshly passed Espionage Act. uh which was part of which was an. attempt to silence critics of us going. into World War I. Uh, and they almost. did put him in prison for a cartoon. called Having their fling. Uh, and and. this is a a pretty brutal one, too. And. it showed the um like editors,

capitalist politicians and preachers. like cheering uh entry into, you know, an origgy of death, basically. Yeah, that one hits as well for sure. Speaking. of World Wars, World War II was a big um. kind of accelerator of political. cartoons because by this time newspapers. have really hit in the United States and. around the world, but there were a lot. of newspapers in the middle of the. century, the 20th century. And so World. War II like produced a lot of fodder for.

political cartoons. one of whom one of. the the I don't know if he was one of. the most famous at the time but today. one of the most noteworthy was Dr. Seuss. who I think we mentioned in our Dr. Seuss episode was a political cartoonist. for a little while during World War I or. two yeah of course uh the Geisel yeah we. did talk about this because some of the. stuff he worked for a New York newspaper. called PM for I think two or three years. in the early 40s right uh and it's you.

know it looks like Dr. pursue stuff in. his total signature style. Uh but he uh. would would you like some of them would. be uh uh like against racist and. discriminatory hiring practices and. policies uh that are hampering the war. effort. But he also and we talked about. this in the Seuss episode um you know. many years later was kind of called out. for having a lot of racist caricatures. drawn in his in his work. Yeah. Especially there's one of Tojo um who.

ran Japan at the time during World War. II and uh the in just the most racist. Japanese stereotype you can possibly. imagine but Dr. Seuss style. Yeah, exactly. So uh yeah, there was another. uh prominent cartoonist that actually. emerged from World War II, like was. drawing editorial cartoons on the front. lines of World War II. His name was Bill. Malden. I want to say Modlin so bad, but. it's Malden. Yeah, me too. And if you. see pictures of him when he was, you.

know, drawing these cartoons during. World War II, he looks like a baby. He. looks like the kid that Necessity comes. and takes from his house to the mill in. that one 1912 political cartoon. Now, I'm looking up a picture of him because. I didn't actually look up the artist. And yeah, he he looks like a child. He. really does. and he came up with two of. the most um the most uh beloved. characters, recurring characters in the. history of political cartoons in part. because there's not really that many.

recurring characters in political. cartoons, right? But there were two GIs. named Willie and Joe and he just. depicted their life um in the front. lines humorously for the most part but. sometimes kind of poignantly as well. Yeah. And these a lot of times were just. um I don't think we mentioned like you. know sometimes it'll be an image with a. uh kind of like the back of the New. Yorker with those cartoons they'll have. a caption right stealing my ideas Ziggy.

at the complaint window. Most of these. had captions uh the Willie and Joe stuff. but um not all political cartoons use. words at all. Sometimes very few words. Sometimes this word's just in the image. like on a sign or you know something. like that. But uh sometimes it's like a. character saying something. Yeah. There's one that I think really kind of. stands out um of Bill Malden's that. shows a a GI returning from World War. II. He's sitting in at a at a table and. he's being interviewed by the press and.

there's an Army PR man standing next to. him and and has his arm around his. shoulder and he's speaking on behalf of. this GI and he says he thinks the food. over there was swell. He's glad to be. home, but he misses the excitement of. battle. You may quote him. And uh it. just kind of Well, I don't know. I'll. leave it to you to decide what it means. Right. Yeah. There's another one here. that I'm looking at that's uh Willie and. Joe reading the papers of their their. new um a new soldier brought to the. battalion. And the new soldier is.

clearly like, you know, 13 years old or. something. Mhm. And Willie and Joe, he. says, "Oh, that's okay. The replacement. center says he comes from a long line of. infantrymen." Yeah. his uniform is like. hanging off of him. Yeah. So, clearly. making a point about like sending. children to war. There was another thing. too that was a recurring theme in these. um in Malden's World War II cartoons and. that is how important hearing from. people back home was to GIS like uh. getting mail was a recurring theme.

throughout that. And there was one that. I saw that uh it was like you were. saying, there's no dialogue. There's no. caption or anything like that, but it's. a soldier and he's sitting there with. like he's he's sitting down with his. back against a tree. He's holding his. rifle up, but at his feet is a a bunch. of packages that say do not open until. December 25th. So like he's in battle. carrying around this package that uh he. can't wait to open until Christmas. It's. like it's got a touch of humor to it, but more than anything, it really struck.

me as quite touching, you know. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Uh the one that. artistically is. um like I think one of the coolest ones. was actually from a from a German uh I. mean, I really hate saying this out. loud. It was from a Nazi and uh what was. his name? His name was uh Harold. He was. a Norwegian Nazi named Harold Dams. Mhm. And in 1944, he drew a political. cartoon. Uh the caption reads, "The USA.

shall save European culture from. destruction with what right?" And it's a. picture um you know sort of uh pointing. out all the hypocrisies of America like. you know this this big winged sort of. multi-arm multi-legged beast made out of. a a drum and a has a clansman head and. holding a money bag and uh and there's a. noose hanging off. It's just crazy. looking. It looks like something like. Pink Floyd would have used on an album. cover. Yeah, it is nuts. It's called.

Culture Terror, but spelled with a K. And I think terror is spelled. differently, too. I guess in the. Norwegian. Well, there there's your band. then. Just call your band that and use. that as the album cover. Cultter Terror. Yeah, that's a great idea. You're. halfway there. But go check it out. because it's it's striking as just the. art alone is striking. Um, but that the. Nazis calling out America for our own. misdeeds. Misdeeds. Great. Thank you. Um, that was also carried on by some.

Americans, too. There was a black. cartoonist named Jay Jackson who drew. for the Chicago Defender, which is a. black newspaper. Um, and during World. War II, did you see the one of uh the. blind leading the blind? Yeah. I I mean, talk about striking. So, it's. it's America. Uh, it's a figure. representing America, and he's leading a. figure with a swastika. So, he's. representing Germany. I think it even. says Germany on the guy and they're both.

um blind and they're both wearing dark. glasses and on the lenses it says race. hate. So what he's saying is that like. you know both of these countries that. are fighting this war for moral. superiority are both blinded by their. hatred of different races and um it's. it's one of the better political. cartoons I've ever seen. Again, not. funny like you were saying, but still. yeah, just an amazing point. Yeah, for. sure. Uh we should probably take our. last break. Uh right before the break, I. want to mention that they've been giving.

out a Pulitzer Prize for editorial. cartooning. Uh they started that in 1922. and Bill Malden uh won that Pulitzer for. his World War II work. And we'll talk. about someone else who won several of. those awards right after this. [Music]. Lately, I've been learning some stuff. about insomnia or.

aluminia. How about the one on. borderline disorder? Better yet, reporter. Heard that one before, but it. was so nice. I learned it. twice. Everybody listen. up. Oh, it's Charles. It's. stop now.

Okay, Chuck, I just want to point out I. think we said we weren't really going to. describe images. Well, not much. Yeah, you've been doing. it pretty prolifically. I hope it's. going well. I can't tell. All right, no. more. Uh so I think we should talk about. a guy named Herb Block or Herblock was. his uh pen name, cartoon name and he's. considered probably the most important. political cartoonist of the entire 20th. century. He's got three Pulitzers for. cartooning alone and an additional.

Pulitzer for public service that he got. for just excoriating Nixon over the. Watergate scandal. Yeah, I imagine if you're a political. cartoonist during Watergate, you're. you're kind of licking your chops a bit, you know. Yeah, for sure. Or. McCarthyism. Like he was really around. during a fraught fraught time. politically. Yeah. He drew just block. alone drew more than a hundred cartoons. about Watergate between 72 and 74. And. that's something that I think uh it. bears pointing out. Political. cartoonists are expected to draw a.

cartoon a day. Like you didn't write an. article every day. You didn't go cover. something. You drew a political cartoon. 5 days a week to run in the in the daily. newspaper. Yeah. And 25 of them for. Saturday and Sunday. Right. Uh and Block. actually uh I mean I talked about the. time that he was there. I mean it's. actually pretty vast. He was there from. 46 to 2001. Yeah. So he got to cover. quite a bit politically. Um he coined. the term McCarthyism. I think we talked.

about that in the McCarthyism episode in. a 1950 cartoon. Uh he was definitely, you know, on the. on the left side of the political. spectrum uh because he would go after, you know, environmental polluters and uh. the and war, the immorality of war, uh. the government, you know, as a whole. And they have named um since 2004, the. best editorian political cartoonist is. named after him, the uh Herblock Prize. Yeah. Yeah. And I went and looked to see.

uh who some of the recent candidates or. or winners were and there's one that I I. noticed. I was looking through current. political cartoons and this guy kept. coming up. His name was Pedro X Molina. and he draws for Counterpoint. So he is. super lefty. Um he was a 2024 finalist. for the Herblock Prize, but his cartoons. are just on point. He's I think probably. the best working today of the younger. generation. Oh, cool. Um, one of the.

ones that I saw was there's an old um. like a an extension cord outlet. You. know, I have like the two outlets that. you can plug into. Oh, you sent me this. one, right? Yeah. And it just looks old. and worn and everything. And one of the. outlets says Biden and the other one. says Trump. And then in also in the. picture is a Apple charger and that says. Gen Z. like they have nowhere to no no. one to plug into. Yeah. And it's just. there's no words aside from the names. and and the and Gen Z and like it just.

again really gets the point across. But. I like that guy's work. Yeah. It also. instead of saying Gen Z could have said. a lot of America. Right. Right. For. sure. Uh so we should finish up by. talking a bit about Charlie Hebdo. um as. promised early on. Uh you mentioned that. that France was is has been a hot bed. for satire since the the get-go. Mhm. And the radical satirical newspaper. Charlie Hebdo.

um has been around for a long long time. since 1960. Their original motto was. mean and nasty. And they made you we. probably would not here in the States. unless you just are sort of in the know. not known much about Charlie Hebdo had. it not been for a couple of tragic. events. Yeah. uh on on Halloween day uh. in 2011 they published um an in issue. number 101. uh they retitled instead of Charlie. Hebdo they retitled the issue uh Charia.

Hebdo for Sharia law and they were it. was a cover in response to the Tunisian. news where an Islamist party had won. parliamentary elections there and on the. cover it featured a cartoon rendering of. the prophet Muhammad and And the caption. read 100 lashes if you do not die. laughing. And in Islam, any image of. Muhammad is very much uh forbidden, much. less, you know, a cartoon making fun of. something, right? And violence ensued.

because of this. Yeah. I think uh in. 2012, no, that same year, 2011, so. within a couple months, the offices were. firebombed. No one was hurt. But in. response, and I didn't know this, I. thought it was just that cover, that. drawing, which is, you know, like you. don't do that. That's a violation of of. like a huge violation of Islamic custom. to to make any kind of, like you said, picture of Muhammad, let alone making. him a cartoon. But they they went even.

further after the firebombing and they. in 2012 they published more cartoons. Um, one of which was Muhammad naked on. all fours. And that actually, from what. I can tell, is what triggered the the um. the the murders of a bunch of the people. who work at the offices in 2015. Yeah, it was uh two men stormed into the. offices, murdered 12 people. Uh this.

was, you know, the the biggest news. There's a cat walking around outside my. house right now that I do not recognize. Very. interesting. Sorry, just caught me off. guard. Yeah, it did. I was like, did one. of my cats get out? It's like, nope, it's not one of my cats. It's a burger. Uh, yeah. M murdered 12 people. Probably. not the best time to mention that during. the middle of this awful, awful. retelling. Uh, including the editor of. of Charlie Hebdo, four other cartoonists. uh, and also went on to kill four Jewish. people. And then the French police took.

them out. Yeah. And so like immediately. there were protests and and marches in. France like millions of people across. the country and um basically a meme was. developed almost immediately. It was Jui. Charlie and I it means I am Charlie and. they were saying like I'm standing up. for um freedom of expression, freedom of. speech and uh that was pretty much the. zeitgeist across all of France. like. everyone stood up and supported Charlie. Hebdo after that tragedy. Um and I saw.

Chuck that 10 years on the 10 year. anniversary just came and went this past. January. Um they apparently people have. changed their opinions in in some cases. to like 31% of people pled agreed with. the idea that Charlie Hebdo brought that. on themselves whereas Wow that same the. the answer to that question would have. probably been in the low single digits. right after the shooting at the time. Yeah.

Yeah. I thought that was interesting. I. mean how how different things can change. in 10 years you know. Yeah. Yeah. I. mean, in the wake of a tragedy like. that, yeah, I'm not saying I agree one. way or the other. I just I just I think. a lot of times opinions change on stuff. like that over time for certain people. 10 years is a long time these days. It. didn't used to be, but man oh man, a lot. can happen in 10 years. We've learned to. pack it in. So, we mentioned early on uh that. there's only 20 like on staff major.

newspaper cartoonists. The reason for. that uh as we all know is newspapers are. are having a tough time declining. subscriptions mean they don't want to uh. have further declining subscriptions by. angering readership uh on either side of. the political spectrum uh because people. might cancel over something like that. and they just can't afford that anymore. So people are more sensitive these days. Uh they're sadly editors are not. standing behind their cartoonist like. they used to. They definitely and if.

they flag something they you know. they'll pull it and the cartoonist may. quit or may be fired. Yeah. I mean if. people complain about a a political. cartoon it used to be like hey it's it's. true. Now it's like oh sorry and then. they they print a retraction and then. fire the political cartoonist. That's. new. That's that's the way that the um. the industry is changing. But right, it. seems to be pretty much relegated to. newspapers and just some newspapers. Um,

right, you know, like Mike Luckovich at. the AJC, he's one of the premier. editorial cartoonists still working. today for a newspaper, man. He's been. around for a long, long time. Yeah. And. he doesn't pull punches. And I think. that AJC has stood behind him every. single time. Yeah. So, it's not it's not. like it's going to happen, you know, no. matter what newspaper you work at. It. just depends on the usually the outlook. of the publisher, right? And if you. offend the publisher used to be like the.

editors would talk them down, but the. editors don't do that anymore. And so, you can get fired. And there was a very. well-known political cartoonist, another. Pulitzer winner named Anne Telnese. And. in 2019, she kind of saw the writing on. the wall and she published like a series. or not a series multi-. multi-panel cartoon that basically was. an infographic explaining what political. cartoonists do, the danger that they're. in right now in the United States in as.

far as like being canceled and fired and. then what what the pro what the ultimate. problem with that is. and she. essentially says, "Political cartoonists. are the canary in the coal mine. If we. start getting fired for expressing. opinions and views that are legitimate. um because people don't want to hear. that, that is a big red flag that. freedom of expression is under attack in. your country." And she was saying that's. basically happening right now. And she. ultimately quit just uh earlier this.

year, right? Yeah. She had been at the. Washington Post for 17 years and uh quit. uh because her editors there at the Post. refused to publish one of her cartoons. uh based only on uh her opinion. So it's. uh yeah, that's kind of the state of. things at the Washington Post these. days. Yes. So, and across a lot of. newspapers, like again, they're like a a. a an a endangered breed, but that's.

specifically at newspapers. It it's. still a very thriving art form, and you. can make a really good case that uh it's. it's still around and very popular. It's. just transmuted in a lot of cases to. memes. Um I'll give you an example of. one I saw recently. Um, you know the the. this is fine, the dog sitting at the. table drinking coffee in a room that's. on fire. I haven't seen it. This is. fine. I don't see many memes though. It's a great meme. But in one panel,

he's just sitting there and it says. arson is free speech now. And then the. next panel it's him just sitting there. drinking the coffee in the room on fire. and he says, "This is fine." And that I. mean it's it's a meme. Somebody put it. together probably using a meme. generator. But you can also make a case. that that is in a lot of ways uh it. bears a strong resemblance to political. cartoons. All right. Uh you got anything. else? I got nothing else. Okay. Well, uh. since we got nothing else, that means.

this episode is done and it's time for. listener. mail. Uh this one's Scrabble ccentric. Uh before I read this email, we do have. to acknowledge that we failed to mention. the ultimate Simpsons reference of. course of Quijibo. Uh very very old Simpsons uh reference. from an early episode where Bart. Simpson, I think it was Bart, argued for. Quijibo, which was just the letters as. they appeared on his rack was a word. Right. Right. Okay. So, sorry about the.

Quijibo. We heard from a lot of people. Uh but this is a different email. Hey. guys, uh the real reason I'm writing is. to tell you about the role of Scrabble. in my family's history. My parents loved. to play Scrabble and my dad, being the. kind of guy he was, made up a table to. record their stats by hand using a ruler. both to make sure the lines were. straight and the columns are each the. same width from page to page. Ended up. using five pages or so of very thin. lines. He would record the date in the. game uh that was played in the final. score uh and my mom's final score. uh.

two more columns in which he would track. a running total of many games of how. many games each of them had won. Uh. besides being a perfect example of my. dad, there's also interesting thing. about the dates. There are three periods. when they begin to play all the time. following periods for which they hardly. played at all in between each my two. siblings and I were. born. That's pretty funny. They're like, "Why did things drop off for 2 years?". Uh we had other things to do. Exactly. Uh when my dad uh died, I inherited.

their scrabble board and their record. was in it. Uh and this is one of my most. precious possessions. Uh that is from. Reverend Eric. That's a that's a sweet. email. Thanks a lot, Reverend Eric. That. was great. I can just imagine, man, making your own columns and rows with a. ruler. That's dedication right there. I. know those dads. I'm not that dad, and. my dad wasn't that dad, but I've known. those dads. Yep. Uh, if you want to be. like Reverend Eric and send us an email. that tells us how sweet your parents. were, we love those kinds of things. You.

can send it off to stuffodcast@. iheartradio.com. Stuff You Should Know. is a production of iHeart Radio. For. more podcasts, iMheart Radio, visit the. iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or. wherever you listen to your favorite. shows. [Music].