“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.