Animal Farm (Herblock's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium, Library of Congress Exhibition)

Detail from Herblock's Mirror, mirror, on the wall Throughout the 1960s, racial tensions exploded in riots throughout America, as the gap widened between the powerful and the powerless. Generations clashed over new fashions and attitudes, popular culture, drugs and music. Students and political activists took to the streets to protest the Vietnam War and numerous controversial social issues. Herb Block lent clarity, reason, and focus to a time filled with confusion, anger, and anxiety, and exerted a strong influence on a new generation of younger cartoonists.

Animal farm By 1960, electoral reapportionment in many states had failed to keep up with population shifts, with the result that some rural districts with few inhabitants had greater representation than urban ones. Critics argued that "the integrity of representative government was in many cases endangered." Herb Block's cartoons on this inequality show farm animals getting greater representation than humans. Here he makes reference to George Orwell's Animal Farm, in which a "more equal" pig is dominant. In a 1964 decision, which Chief Justice Earl Warren regarded as one of the most important of his tenure, the Supreme Court issued a "one-man, one vote" ruling designed to correct the imbalance in representation. Animal farm, April 2, 1961 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (47) LC-USZ62-127074

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" In this cartoon from the beginning of 1960, Herb Block shows Vice-President Richard Nixon preparing to run for the presidential nomination that year. He depicts him on the basis of his past record as the witch-like character from Snow White. Nixon won the Republican nomination and lost to Senator John F. Kennedy that fall. "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" January 2, 1960 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (44) LC-USZ62-127079

"It's all right to seat them. They're not Americans" President John F. Kennedy called for southern governors to assure "a friendly and dignified reception" for foreign diplomats visiting the United States, amid widespread discrimination against blacks in restaurants and other public places. The governor of Virginia, where "massive resistance" to desegregation originated, promised to provide southern courtesy, but coupled his response with the suggestion that diplomats identify themselves as official representatives of their governments. Herb Block's cartoon, based on an actual occurrence, expressed the outrageousness of black Americans in the United States being held as less worthy of respectful treatment than foreigners. "It's all right to seat them. They're not Americans," April 27, 1961 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (48) LC-USZ62-127069

"I help to support the establishments I have mentioned; they cost enough, and those who are badly off must go there." --A Christmas Carol President Kennedy proposed legislation to use payroll taxes to support medical care for the aged. Dr. Leonard Larson, president of the American Medical Association (AMA), spoke against what would eventually become Medicare, predicting that it foretold the complete socialization of medical care in the United States, echoing the AMA's earlier charges against President Truman's health care plans. He reminded Herblock of the miserly Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas Carol. "I help to support the establishments I have mentioned; they cost enough, and those who are badly off must go there." --A Christmas Carol, November 29, 1961 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (49) LC-USZ62-127070

"What do they expect us to do -- listen to the kids pray at home?" The separation of church and state has long been the subject of political controversy in the United States. On June 17, 1963, the Supreme Court held that state and local rules providing for recitation of the Lord's Prayer or verses from the Bible by children in public schools violated First Amendment rights. President John F. Kennedy said: "We have in this case a very easy remedy, and that is to pray ourselves. And I would think that it would be a welcome reminder to every American family that we can pray a good deal more at home, we can attend our churches with a good deal more fidelity, and we can make the true meaning of prayer much more important in the lives of our children." "What do they expect us to do--listen to the kids pray at home?" June 18, 1963 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (53) LC-USZ62-127087

"Sorry, but you have an incurable skin condition" In many areas, black doctors were excluded from practice in medical facilities. This not only deprived them of opportunities, but deprived many patients of all colors of treatment they might otherwise have received. In 1963, the AMA and a black medical association agreed to form a joint committee to halt injustices toward African American doctors. "Sorry, but you have an incurable skin condition," July 4, 1963 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (54) LC-USZ62-127084

"And remember, nothing can be accomplished by taking to the streets" Herb Block applauds the growing activism of the civil rights movement in this cartoon. Here he shows the Catch-22 situation of an African-American practically pushed into the street by a white man, while signs on all the buildings that line the street speak of restrictions on African Americans. "And remember, nothing can be accomplished by taking to the streets," September 6, 1963 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (55) LC-USZ62-127088

"Kindly move over a little, gentlemen" After being elected president in his own right, in his 1965 inaugural address President Lyndon B. Johnson called for the creation of a "Great Society," supporting new social programs, including anti-poverty projects. In his "guns and butter" policies, the butter projects at home did better than the gun policies in Vietnam. By the end of his term in office, his growing budget for "Health, Education, and Welfare" represented the greatest social advances since the New Deal. "Kindly move over a little, gentlemen," January 26, 1965 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (56) LC-USZ62-127078

"I got one of �em just as she almost made it back to the church" In 1965, Alabama became the focus of an intense effort to register blacks to vote. On March 7, 1965, over 600 marchers for voting rights left Brown's Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Selma on their way to Montgomery, fifty-four miles away. On this "Bloody Sunday," state troopers attacked the marchers as they reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge at the Alabama River. Nearly 100 of the marchers were hurt as they ran back toward the church. Television cameras captured the violence, making Selma an overnight symbol of racial oppression. It led President Lyndon Johnson to push for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. "I got one of ‘em just as she almost made it back to the church," March 9, 1965 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (57) LC-USZ62-127073

Jericho, U.S.A. Herb Block compares the civil rights marches around the exclusionary walls of segregation to the Biblical march of the exiled ancient Israelites around the walled city of Jericho. The Israelites marched around Jericho seven times and the walls came tumbling down. Jericho, U.S.A., March 21, 1965 Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper Published in the Washington Post (58) LC-USZ62-127076