Friday, February 26, 2010

President Eisenhower's Plight

Walt Kelly had a love of editorial cartooning, politicizing with them in the late 40s and early 50s. Here, he portrayed President Eisenhower's plight "as that of a school bus driver who has had motor trouble, and while he studies a motor manual, his irresponsible passengers 'help' by indulging in assorted Katzenjammer Kids antics." Senator Joe McCarthy seems to be doing the most damage.

This ran as a (large) full page, commissioned by Life magazine in the 50s.

I can almost imagine those woods back there as being the far northern fringe of the Okefenokee, and ol' mouse hitching a ride on that train, coming in from Baltimore.


3 comments:

  1. In'erestin' that the Vice President, who in a later capacity was to bring such disrepute upon that bus, does not seem to appear at all in this cartoon.

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  2. Good point. I wonder what Kelly's reasoning was for that omission.

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  3. An incredible "new" piece of art. It's always stunning to see Kelly draw humans. (well, Okay, it's stunning to see him draw anything! But you know what i mean...)
    Thanks for this find and for posting.

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