“We Just Grow Tobacco and Cane Sugar…”


“We Just Grow Tobacco and Cane Sugar…” (December 20, 1980)
by Charles Phillip Bissell (1926 – )
11 x 17.5 in., ink and wash on board
Coppola Collection

In 1960, Boston Globe cartoonist Phil Bissell, working for $25 a day, was handed an assignment that would change his life—and the lives of fans of the brand-new AFL football team coming to Boston. “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.

Cuba’s 1980 five-year plan acknowledged sugar was still the backbone of the island’s economy and called for increasing sugar production 20 to 25 percent in the next five years.

But President-elect Reagan saw Cuba as a solid outpost of the Soviet Union in ways that were not seen since the Kennedy era. The fall of the Soviet Union was still a decade away, and the fight with Gorbachev was high on the Reagan agenda.

On December 20, 1980, Fidel Castro called President-elect Ronald Reagan a threat to peace at the close of the second Communist Party Congress and told a cheering throng of Cubans to use their spare time to train to defend the island nation.

Castro urged the crowd to devote spare hours and part of their vacation to train in a militia to defend Cuba. He attacked the United States and said Cubans ‘prefer a thousand times to die before surrendering. We will not make a single concession to imperialism.’

Castro said the United States had hinted it would lift its blockade of Cuba if the Caribbean island stopped sending troops to other nations and loosened ties with Russia, which provides massive aid to Cuba.

But Castro asserted once again that more than 100,000 Cuban soldiers have fought in such foreign nations as Angola and Ethiopia and said Cuba would not stop sending troops overseas in demonstration of what he termed “internationalism.”

Ironically, Castro said, “As long as the Soviet Union exists, and as long as Cuba exists, these ties will exist. What right could the United States have to tell us who our friends should be.”

In January 1981, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the US president tightened the trade embargo against Cuba, instituting the most politically hostile policies since the invasion at Bay of Pigs.

“The Wild Man of Borneo”


“The Wild Man of Borneo” (June 12, 1945)
by Burris A. Jenkins, Jr. (1897-1966)
15 x 18 in., ink and crayon on board
Coppola Collection

Burris Jenkins Jr. was the son of a prominent Kansas City minister, war correspondent and newspaper editor. Jenkins Jr. was a popular sports cartoonist, whose work appeared in the New York Journal-American from 1931. His humorous published verses were also popular. Although best known for his sports themes, Jenkins was also a skilled courtroom illustrator and editorial cartoonist.

Jenkins was not afraid to provoke, and he has some strong WW2 examples, including one of the rare direct commentaries on concentration (death) camps. Among his best-remembered cartoons are his angry piece on the discovery of the dead Lindbergh baby, and his sentimental image of Babe Ruth’s farewell to Yankee Stadium.

He was fired from his first job at the Kansas City Post for a series of pessimistic Christmas cartoons, a firing that prompted his father’s resignation from the same newspaper.

His father was an interesting guy. Jenkins, Sr (1968-1945) was ordained in 1891 and served as a pastor in Indianapolis. He received advanced degrees from Harvard and went on to serve as a professor and president of the University of Indianapolis and president of Kentucky University. He left Kentucky to return to Kansas City as pastor of the Linwood Boulevard Christian Church. The church burned in 1939, and Jenkins chose Frank Lloyd Wright as the architect for the church’s new home overlooking the Country Club Plaza.

Jenkins served as editor of the Kansas City Post from 1919 to 1921, hoping to fight for the establishment of the League of Nations. The Jenkins, Sr., biography tells the story about his leaving the Post slightly differently that for the son: “After two years, it became necessary for him to choose between the newspaper and his pulpit and, without hesitation, he resigned from the Post.”

“Live dangerously!” Jenkins would thunder from the pulpit, embracing his own philosophy against all adversaries. Unconventional in nearly every aspect of his chosen field, Jenkins often preached from non-Biblical texts, such as the latest book or his travels abroad. The church frequently hosted motion pictures, dances, card games, and fundraising boxing matches. These activities led to opposition to Jenkins and his Community Church from other churches in the city.

The island of Borneo, with its oilfields and strategic location for the offensive against British Malaya and Dutch Java, was one of the prime targets of Japan’s military offensive of 1941-42. The Japanese systematically and swiftly secured their objectives in Borneo during the early months of their push into the resource-rich Southern Area (South-East Asia) following Pearl Harbor.

In 1945 the task of retaking from the Japanese the former British Borneo territories of Sarawak, Brunei, and North Borneo (Sabah) was entrusted to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). The 20th and 24th Brigades of the 9th Division launched an amphibious offensive, codenamed OBOE 6.

In order to facilitate his re-conquest of the Philippines, MacArthur struck a deal with the Dutch that he be given “complete authority in the East Indies during any military operations.” In return, he promised to restore Dutch authority in their colonies as rapidly as possible. Therefore, the recapture of the Netherlands East Indies, particularly Java, became part of MacArthur’s plans. The seizure of Borneo was to offer bases to launch his offensive against Java. Furthermore MacArthur argued that the Bornean oilfields would be denied the enemy and instead deployed to Allied advantage.

Nonetheless MacArthur had no intention of committing American land forces in the Borneo campaign. Instead, Australian troops would spearhead the offensive there. Two main landings were undertaken by the Australians in North Borneo on June 10 and June 20.

“Why Shouldn’t We Deal With Him…?”


“Why Shouldn’t We Deal With Him…?” (July 31, 1975)
by Edmund Siegrfried (Ed) Ed Valtman (1914-2005)
11.5 x 14.5 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

A native of Tallinn, Valtman fled Estonia when the USSR reoccupied it in 1944. After four years in a displaced persons camp in Germany, he emigrated to the US in 1949.

Valtman worked for The Hartford Times from 1951 until his 1975 retirement. He may have been one of the few American cartoonists who had experienced Soviet rule, and he was noted for his caricatures of Cold War-era communist leaders like Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, and Fidel Castro.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for an August 31, 1961 cartoon featuring Fidel Castro.


The Organization of American States (OAS) is a regional multilateral organization that includes all 35 independent countries of the Western Hemisphere (though Cuba, suspended by the OAS in 1962, still does not participate). A group of 21 countries, mainly from Latin America, established the OAS in 1948 as a forum in which the nations of the hemisphere could engage one another and address issues of mutual concern. The next countries to join were Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago (1967), Jamaica (1969), and Grenada (1975).

On July 29, 1975, the OAS ended political and economic sanctions against Cuba, abolishing an embargo imposed in 1964 as a penalty for fostering Communist guerrilla activities.

The decision was passed by 16 of the 21 voting members, including the United States.

Secretary of State Kissinger had said that the United States would not make a move to improve relations with Cuba until the OAS embargo was ended. After the vote, the US said that there may be “conversations that might lead to some kind of normalization” between Washington and Havana.

The cartoon speaks to the wide and independent political variation that existed (and still exists) in the Americas. Seven original members had maintained diplomatic and trade relations with Havana in defiance of the sanctions: Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. Jamaica and Barbados also maintained diplomatic ties.

The resolution was passed by Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, the United States, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, the Dominican. Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

Opening the session, Costa Rica’s President, Daniel Oduber Quirós, recalled that as Foreign Minister he had fulfilled the “sad duty” of voting for the embargo in 1964. Now, he said, it was time to “allow for ideological pluralism” in the hemisphere and lift the sanctions.

“Salesman Comes Back from the Road”


“Salesman Comes Back from the Road” (August, 1936)
by Gerald Aloysius (Jerry) Doyle, Jr. (1898-1986)
14 x 17 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Jerry Doyle spent most of his career at The Philadelphia Record, The Philadelphia Daily News(1951) and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He retired in 1973. Doyle’s support for the New Deal meant that his cartoons generally expressed support for President Roosevelt, whom he depicted as tall, imposing, powerful, and larger-than-life. Doyle’s early and continual criticism towards Hitler and Mussolini made him the only American cartoonist to be put on the Nazi hit list. He wrote the book “According to Doyle – A Cartoon History of World War II” (1943). His son, who carried his name, was also a part-time cartoonist (1926-2009).

James Farley was the mastermind of FDR’s early campaigns, and was particularly effective during the campaign of the first re-election in 1936. He was one of the first to use polling effectively.

Historians of political polls know of the 1936 fiasco of the Literary Digest poll, which was forecasting a big win for PDR’s opponent, Alf Landon.  The Digest was the gospel of its day, but Farley had a different impression, declaring publically, “Landon will only carry Maine and Vermont. 7 electoral votes.”

And on election day, he was exactly correct.

 

“The Twilight of the Gods”


“The Twilight of the Gods” (February 16, 1945)
by William (Bill) Crawford (1913-1982)
20 x 22 in., ink and crayon on heavy paper
Coppola Collection

Crawford worked as a sports cartoonist and for the Washington Daily Newsand the Washington Postfrom 1936-38. He joined the Newark Newsas an editorial cartoonist and his cartoons were distributed to more than 700 daily newspapers by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. He was an active member of the National Cartoonists Society, serving as its president and vice-president. In 1956, 1957, 1958, and 1963 he was awarded “Best Editorial Cartoon” by the National Cartoonist Society, and in 1973 he received their Silver T-Square Award. Crawford retired in 1977.

The bombing raids on the German city of Dresden started on February 13, 1945. Many thousands of civilian lives would be lost in the firestorm created by the Allied bombers.

In four raids between February 13-15, 1945, 722 heavy bombers of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city.  An estimated 25,000 people were killed, although larger casualty figures have been claimed. Three more USAAF air raids followed in March and April.

This was the beginning of the end of Hitler’s vision of a master race.

Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, “Everything we admire on this earth today—science and art, technology and inventions—is only the creative product of a few peoples and originally perhaps one race [the “Aryans”]. On them depends the existence of this whole culture. If they perish, the beauty of this earth will sink into the grave with them.”

Laws were enacted quite early, start in July 1933, to permit the government to sterilize anyone who suffered from so-called “hereditary” illnesses such as “feeble-mindedness,” schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, genetic epilepsy, Huntington’s chorea, genetic blindness, deafness, and some forms of alcoholism.

The idea was not a new one. Sterilization laws existed in several other countries at the time, including the United States. Between 1907 and 1930, 29 US states passed compulsory sterilization laws, and about 11,000 women were sterilized. Many states also had laws that banned marriages between white people and people of color—including African Americans, Native Americans, and Asians. Both sets of laws were prompted by a desire to eliminate “strains that are a burden to the nation or to themselves, and to raise the standard of humanity by the suppression of the progeny of the defective classes.” The Nazis took that goal much further than Americans ever did.

Lebensborn, which means “source of life”, was a program created by Himmler, Hitler’s right-hand man. It was designed to boost the German population by encouraging citizens, especially SS members, to have more children. SS officers came under pressure to have four children, inside or outside marriage. Ten maternity homes were set up across Germany where 8-12,000 Lebensborn Kinder were born. Some stayed with their mothers, but many were adopted by families of SS officers. About 60% were born to unmarried mothers, the rest to wives of SS men. As the Third Reich expanded, Lebensborn homes were set up across Europe. In Norway some 10,000 babies were born, most fathered by SS officers to Norwegian mothers. There were also cases of children with “Aryan” characteristics being kidnapped from their homes in occupied territories.

“News Headline”


“News Headline” (September 15, 1939)
by Gerald Aloysius (Jerry) Doyle, Jr. (1898-1986)
15 x 18 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Jerry Doyle spent most of his career at The Philadelphia Record, The Philadelphia Daily News(1951) and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He retired in 1973. Doyle’s support for the New Deal meant that his cartoons generally expressed support for President Roosevelt, whom he depicted as tall, imposing, powerful, and larger-than-life. Doyle’s early and continual criticism towards Hitler and Mussolini made him the only American cartoonist to be put on the Nazi hit list. He wrote the book “According to Doyle – A Cartoon History of World War II” (1943). His son, who carried his name, was also a part-time cartoonist (1926-2009).

During 1933–1945, Wehrmacht courts issued, conservatively estimated, 25000 death warrants, of which 18000 to 20000 were executed. Declared forms of treason included speaking against the state. The war of words with UK PM Chamberlain was severe, and included calling out Hitler on breaking his earlier promises about what he would and would not do. On September 13-14, 1939, two weeks after the invasion of Poland that started WW2, Hitler broke his often-made promise not to bomb civilian populations in “open towns.”

“Above all else, Hitler was a media figure who gained popularity and controlled his country through speeches and publicity. Far from being a consistent and undeviatingly purposeful politician, he was temperamental, changeable, insecure, allergic to criticism, and often indecisive and uncertain in a crisis.” – RJ Evans, in The Nation, February 28, 2017.

To quote Hitler, “after ten years of hard prison, a man is lost to the people’s community anyway. Thus what to do with such a guy is either put him into a concentration camp, or kill him. In latest times the latter is more important, for the sake of deterrence.”

“The First Robin of Spring”


“The First Robin of Spring” (March, 1942)
by William (Bill) Crawford (1913-1982)
17.5 x 19.5 in., ink and crayon on heavy paper
Coppola Collection

Crawford worked as a sports cartoonist and for the Washington Daily Newsand the Washington Postfrom 1936-38. He joined the Newark Newsas an editorial cartoonist and his cartoons were distributed to more than 700 daily newspapers by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. He was an active member of the National Cartoonists Society, serving as its president and vice-president. In 1956, 1957, 1958, and 1963 he was awarded “Best Editorial Cartoon” by the National Cartoonist Society, and in 1973 he received their Silver T-Square Award. Crawford retired in 1977.

On June 22, 1941, one year to the day after the fall of France, Hitler launched his attack on Russia in Operation Barbarossa. A fake build-up and saber-rattling at England was a deception and a way to surprise Stalin, and by mid-July the Nazis were within 200 miles of Moscow. On a few months later, the Japanese would attack the US at Pearl Harbor.

A severe rainy season slowed down the Germans that fall, and a severe winter for which they were ill-equipped held them in place. Unlike Napoleon in the face of a Soviet winter, who retreated, the Germans were ordered to stay, and probably only made the hardship worse.

The signs and expectations were there, then, for what would happen in the spring.

It was not until July 1942 that Hitler resumed his push to the east, into the upper middle-eastern oilfields of Baku, and towards the pipelines of Stalingrad in August.

“Invasion Plans”


“Invasion Plans” (March, 1942)
by William (Bill) Crawford (1913-1982)
16 x 21 in., ink and crayon on heavy paper
Coppola Collection

Crawford worked as a sports cartoonist and for the Washington Daily Newsand the Washington Postfrom 1936-38. He joined the Newark Newsas an editorial cartoonist and his cartoons were distributed to more than 700 daily newspapers by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. He was an active member of the National Cartoonists Society, serving as its president and vice-president. In 1956, 1957, 1958, and 1963 he was awarded “Best Editorial Cartoon” by the National Cartoonist Society, and in 1973 he received their Silver T-Square Award. Crawford retired in 1977.


On June 22, 1941, one year to the day after the fall of France, Hitler launched his attack on Russia in Operation Barbarossa. A fake build-up and saber-rattling at England was a deception and a way to surprise Stalin, and by mid-July the Nazis were within 200 miles of Moscow. On a few months later, the Japanese would attack the US at Pearl Harbor.

A severe rainy season slowed down the Germans that fall, and a severe winter for which they were ill-equipped held them in place. Unlike Napoleon in the face of a Soviet winter, who retreated, the Germans were ordered to stay, and probably only made the hardship worse.

The signs and expectations were there, then, for what would happen in the spring.

It was not until July 1942 that Hitler resumed his push to the east, into the upper middle-eastern oilfields of Baku, and towards the pipelines of Stalingrad in August.

 

“It Can’t Happen There”


“It Can’t Happen There” (December, 1944)
by William (Bill) Crawford (1913-1982)
18.5 x 22 in., ink and crayon on heavy paper
Coppola Collection

Crawford worked as a sports cartoonist and for the Washington Daily Newsand the Washington Postfrom 1936-38. He joined the Newark Newsas an editorial cartoonist and his cartoons were distributed to more than 700 daily newspapers by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. He was an active member of the National Cartoonists Society, serving as its president and vice-president. In 1956, 1957, 1958, and 1963 he was awarded “Best Editorial Cartoon” by the National Cartoonist Society, and in 1973 he received their Silver T-Square Award. Crawford retired in 1977.

In WW2, there was no Christmas truce as there was during WW1. On December 7, 1941, Pope Benedict XV suggested the idea of a truce. The countries and their commanders disagreed, but on December 24, 1914, after 5 hard months of conflict, British, French and German soldiers left their trenches and exchanged gifts, food, and stories, and playing soccer. Afraid of future fraternization and sympathies, any such suggestion of truce was threatened with disciplinary action. Robert Kennedy called for a Christmas truce in 1965, during the Vietnam War, which lasted 30 hours. The Tét Truce, celebrating the lunar new year, had typically been observed by the North and South Vietnamese during that war, although that was broken in 1968 (Tét Offensive).

The Battle of the Bulge began on December 16, 1944. The Germans called this “Operation Watch on the Rhine.” The US Press dubbed this “the battle of the bulge” because of the way the troop advancements appeared on the maps.

This was to be the last major German western offensive, and lasted 5 weeks, in the Ardennes forests of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. On December 24, the winter weather broke and the Allied air raids against this surprise attack halted the advance of the Nazis. Patton reached the front on the 26th, and the offensive was considered broken by the next day.

“Out of the Sea, Like a Man’s Hand”


“Out of the Sea, Like a Man’s Hand” (June 15, 1945)
by William (Bill) Crawford (1913-1982)
18 x 21 in., ink and crayon on heavy paper
Coppola Collection

Crawford worked as a sports cartoonist and for the Washington Daily Newsand the Washington Postfrom 1936-38. He joined the Newark Newsas an editorial cartoonist and his cartoons were distributed to more than 700 daily newspapers by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. He was an active member of the National Cartoonists Society, serving as its president and vice-president. In 1956, 1957, 1958, and 1963 he was awarded “Best Editorial Cartoon” by the National Cartoonist Society, and in 1973 he received their Silver T-Square Award. Crawford retired in 1977.

The caption is a Biblical quote (I Kings 18:44), meant to covey the sense of hope coming from the war in the Pacific. VE Day was in May 8, 1945, following the death of Adolf Hitler on April 30. The focus of the war moved to Japan. The famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima was in late February. Okinawa was the last big stronghold.

On June 12, 1945, US troops breached the last line of Japanese defense on Okinawa, a battle that had begun on April 1. The last remnants of Japanese resistance ended on June 21.