“Which Will Win?” (June 5, 1968)
by Charles Phillip Bissell (1926 -)
13 x 16 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
Sometimes you come across one of those lucky finds, the buried treasure when you see something that no one noticed. Among the Bissell editorial cartoon art I was picking up, this one was weird and non-descript, although from growing up in the 1960s its potential meaning was possibly clear enough. The high profile assassinations of JFK and RFK were certainly a combination of a ballot box and a bullet.
Bissell did not date his pieces on the artwork, but sometimes there is a handwritten date on the back. And I have a few examples with a stamped date. This one is unusual because there are two stamps. And that was the give-away: June 5, 1968.
On the early morning of June 5, 1968, Robert Kennedy was shot in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. A bit after midnight (PT) was a bit after 4 AM (ET), where Bissell, editorial cartoonist for The Lowell Sun, was located.
One can imagine he woke up to (or was woken up by) the news, and got the order to get a drawing going for the paper. At 9:57 AM, just less than 6 hours after RFK was shot, the back of this drawing was time-stamped. Kennedy died the next morning. This version of the cartoon was not run in the paper, however, so it appears here for the first time.
The editorial “Our Choice: Curb Violence Now or Surrender Our Form of Government” appeared on the following Sunday, June 9, with a revised version of the cartoon. One imagines that the violence in the original one was too graphic and that the editor wanted it toned down. See below.
Bissell’s ties to Massachusetts run deep. In 1960, as a $25-a-day cartoonist working for Boston Globe, he received a task related to Boston’s new AFL football team.
Bissell recalls “Sports editor Jerry Nason came to me and he said, ‘They’ve decided to call the team the Boston Patriots. You better have a cartoon ready for tomorrow’s edition.’”
Bissel’s “Pat Patriot” cartoon was the Patriot’s logo from 1961-1992.
The Lowell Sun (Sunday, June 9, 1968; p. 44)
Two postscripts to this cartoon:
First, the site of the assassination, the Ambassador Hotel, which closed in 1989, was razed in 2006, after almost 20 years of debate about what should be built there. Donald Trump was lobbying to build the world’s tallest building (no comment). The site ended up housing the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, a 4200-student complex of K-12 pilot schools that feature social justice missions congruent with Kennedy’s work. Paintings, murals, and marble memorials to RFK are featured, and the main building is designed as an updated replica of the original hotel (including a preserved piece of the Cocoanut Grove, an extremely popular LA nightclub during the 1920s to the 1950s).
Second, I have a few JFK and JFK-related editorial cartoons.
“Our Nice Clean Page” (01/01/1961)
by Vaughn Richard Shoemaker (1902-1991)
14 x 18.5, ink and wash on board
Coppola Collection
Shoemaker was an American editorial cartoonist. He won the 1938 and 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning and created the character John Q. Public. He spent 22 years at the Chicago Daily, and subsequently worked for the New York Herald Tribune, the Chicago American, and Chicago Today. He retired in 1972.
JFK was elected in November 1960 and inaugurated in January 1961. The cartoon outlines the threats from the Soviet Union and the Cold War, as well as crime, as pressing issues.
“Your Deal, Mr. Khruschev!” (06/1961)
by William (Bil) Canfield (1920-)
17.5 x 20.5 in, ink and wash on board
Coppola Collection
William Newton Canfield (1920- ), professionally known as Bil Canfield, studied at the American School of Design in New York City from 1940 until 1941 and then served in World War II. As a Boatswain’s Mate First Class in the Navy, Canfield, aboard the USS Massachusetts, drew cartoons for the ship’s semi-monthly newspaper, The Bay Stater. Canfield was hired at the Morning Telegraph and Racing Form where he was a sports cartoonist until 1946.
Canfield then took a job at the Newark News as a sports cartoonist and staff artist where one of his influences, Bill Crawford worked. The News ceased publication in 1972 and Canfield became the editorial cartoonist at the Newark Star Ledger. During this time he also contributed editorial cartoons to the Red Bank Register under the name “Lev”. Canfield retired from the Star Ledger in 1995.
Once elected, President Kennedy pledged not to resume testing in the air and promised to pursue all diplomatic efforts for a test ban treaty before resuming underground testing. He envisioned the test ban as a first step to nuclear disarmament.
President Kennedy met with Soviet Premier Khrushchev in Vienna in June 1961, just five weeks after the humiliating defeat of the US-sponsored invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. Khrushchev took a hard line at the summit. He announced his intention to cut off Western access to Berlin and threatened war if the United States or its allies tried to stop him. Many US diplomats felt that Kennedy had not stood up to the Soviet premier at the summit and left Khrushchev with the impression that he was a weak leader.
The Cuban Missile Crisis had a profound effect on both leaders. In a series of private letters, Khrushchev and Kennedy reopened a dialogue on banning nuclear testing. On July 25, 1963, after only 12 days of negotiations, the two nations agreed to ban testing in the atmosphere, in space, and underwater.
“Gone Far Enough” (10/23/1962)
by Eddie Germano (1924 – )
14 x 18.5, ink and wash on board
Coppola Collection
A native Bostonian, Germano became a full-time cartoonist in 1948, at age 24, after serving in WWII. Among other positions, he worked as the editorial and sports cartoonist for the Brockton Enterprisefrom 1963-1990.
This is perhaps the earliest of his existing editorial cartoons from his time at the Enterprise, which speaks to the US quarantine of Cuba (by international law, the term “blockade” fell under an act of war.
On October 22, 1962, Kennedy delivered a nationwide televised address on all of the major networks announcing the discovery of the missiles. He stated: “It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.”
He described his plan: “To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba, from whatever nation or port, will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.”
“The World Mourns” (11/25/1963)
by Eddie Germano (1924 – )
11 x 14.5, ink and wash on board
Coppola Collection
A native Bostonian, Germano became a full-time cartoonist in 1948, at age 24, after serving in WWII. Among other positions, he worked as the editorial and sports cartoonist for the Brockton Enterprisefrom 1963-1990.
This drawing commemorates the JFK assassination.