“League of Nations Summer Session” (June 5, 1930)
by John Tinney McCutcheon (1870-1949)
14 x 17 in., ink on drawing board
Coppola Collection

On the Purdue campus, where he was a student, McCutcheon (class of 1889) is memorialized in a coeducational dormitory, John T. McCutcheon Hall. The lobby displays an original of one of his drawings, a nearly life-size drawing of a young man.

After college, McCutcheon moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he worked at the Chicago Morning News (later: Chicago Record) and then at the Chicago Tribune from 1903 until his retirement in 1946. McCutcheon received the Pulitzer Prize for Cartoons in 1932.

“A debate that promises to enliven the summer session with a lot of fierce shoulder-shrugging”

The League of Nations was an international diplomatic group developed after World War I as a way to solve disputes between countries before they erupted into open warfare. The League achieved some victories but had a mixed record of success, sometimes putting self-interest before becoming involved with conflict resolution, while also contending with governments that did not recognize its authority.

Thanks to the strength of the post-War isolationists, the US did not join the League, and the utter lack of European cooperation meant a lot on infighting and long, drawn-out conferences at which not much happened.

Longtime French Premiere Aristide Briand revitalized the concept of creating a “European Union” as a way to prevent another World War. He proposed to use the League of Nations as his platform.

During the 1929 Assembly, Briand promised the 27 invited European Member States that he would submit a more detailed plan that they could then discuss, including the need for European stamps, a European Customs Union, and a European coinage.

By the time Briand’s proposal was ready for discussion in May of 1930, Europe was in the process of undergoing some drastic changes, resulting from the economic depression, in the form of growing levels of unemployment and nationalism, and, as we now know, the rise of fascism.

The League effectively ceased operations during World War II, but created the foundation for the United Nations in 1945.

“Wings of Spring” (March 20, 1941)
by Clarence Robert Klessig (1903-1987)
9 x 11 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Klessig was a Sheboygan, WI native and a political cartoonist for the Sheboygan Press. He was active during the 1930s and 1940s, and had some short term dalliance with comic strips. “It’s a Great Life” (1946-49) and “It’s Butch” are attributed to him.

The UK War Office did not treat the threat of invasion seriously until the collapse of France in May 1940.

After the evacuation of Dunkirk (May/June 1940), people believed that the threatened invasion could come at almost any time.

The British anti-invasion preparations ramped up fast, and entailed a large-scale division of military and civilian mobilization in response to the threat of invasion by German armed forces. The rapid construction of field fortifications transformed much of the United Kingdom, especially southern England, into a prepared battlefield.

By early 1941, in towns and villages, invasion committees were formed to cooperate with the military and plan for the worst should their communities be isolated or occupied.

The US, in the meanwhile, still had its head in the sand… but it has managed to pull it out of its ass.

January 1941: U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew passes on to Washington, D.C. a rumor overheard at a diplomatic reception about a planned surprise attack upon Pearl Harbor.

Spring 1941: Winston Churchill, in a worldwide broadcast, asks the United States to show its support by sending arms to the British: “Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.”

March 1941: FDR got Lend-Lease passed, which managed to enable the US to provide arms to the Allies. Captain America #1 was published, and this first cover features “America” socking Adolph on the jaw. The propaganda message could not have been clearer.

April 1941: The first Lend-Lease aid goes to China.

May 1, 1941: The first Series E “War Bonds” and Defense Savings Stamps go on sale in the United States. “Citizen Kane” premieres in NYC.

“Germany’s Iron Cross” (August 5, 1942)
by Johnny Draper
9 x 10 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

I cannot find anything out about Johnny Draper beyond what you see here: he worked for the Richmond Times Dispatch in Richmond VA. But, as you can see, the piece was in the hands of Murray A Harris for a long time (see reverse).  Harris was an illustrator and noted collector who died in 1997.

In 1942, the Nazi forces were on the move everywhere.

By July, Germany was making its first direct assault on British military defenses at El Alamein (Egypt). In the east, progress towards Stalingrad was slow and steady. To the southeast, the Russia army was in retreat in the Caucuses, opening up access to precious oil resources. And the systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto began on July 22.

The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross and its variants were the highest awards in the military of the Third Reich during World War II. This military decoration was awarded for a wide range of reasons and across all ranks, from a senior commander for skilled leadership of his troops in battle to a low-ranking soldier for a single act of extreme gallantry. The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves was introduced on June 3, 1940 to further distinguish those who had already received the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross and who continued to show merit in combat bravery or military success. A total of 111 awards were made in 1942, with the mid-year recognitions going to pilots of the Luftwaffe.

This cartoon is about as self-explanatory as it gets.

“Well Boys… It’s the End of the Line” (July 25, 1942)
by Harold Eugene “Gene” Luttenton (1911-1998)
17 x 18 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Luttenton attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago to become an editorial cartoonist and served in the U.S. Army, both in Europe and in the Pacific during WWII. Later in his life, Gene was a member of the Cape Coral American Legion Post #90, in Florida.

Eventually, the Axis lost its advantage, which derived, at least in part, from the disorganized and depressed world in which the alliance formed. By the middle of 1942, the Allies, joined by the Russians after Barbarossa (June 1941) and the US after Pearl Harbor (December 1941), we begin to see progress as the war starts to be fought on too many fronts.

“Paris” (August 1944)
by Gordon Campbell
8 x 11 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

This one is a mystery. I have a feeling it could be a retrospective commemoration rather than a cartoon contemporary to 1944. Putting the notation “WWII” seems a little curious (unless it is modern). I could be wrong. Other than the Canadian and strictly-not-this-artist Gordon Campbell, I have not tracked down who this might be. CAF member George Hagenauer has a color “Gordon Campbell” page that is thought to be a try-out strip (“Rita Ray”) but that’s it so far.

The liberation of Paris took place during World War II from August 19-25, 1944, resulting in a German garrison surrendering at the French capital. Paris had been ruled by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Armistice on June 22, 1940, after which the Wehrmacht occupied northern and western France. The liberation began when the French Resistance staged an uprising against the German garrison upon the approach of the US Third Army, led by General George Patton.

“For Defense” (June 1941)
by Henry Boltinoff (1914-2001)
11 x 15 in., ink and wash on board
Coppola Collection

Born in New York City, he was in his teens when he started drawing pictures for the theatre section of The New York American, where his brother, Murray, was an assistant editor. He worked there from 1933 until the paper folded, in 1937. Then he freelanced for magazines, selling hundreds of cartoons to Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal etc. Two years after that, he called on Whitney Ellsworth, DC’s editor, whom he’d come to know while making the magazine rounds. His brother Murray ended up as a long-time editor at DC.

His most prominent creation for DC was “Dover & Clover” which debuted in More Fun Comics #94 (Nov. 1943). Dover & Clover ended in 1947, and the rest of Boltinoff’s longer work was gone soon after. But the fillers continued until the early 1970s.

The particular poster that these two guys are looking at was issued in 1941, during the first ‘defense bond’ campaign.

The first Series E bond was sold to President Franklin D. Roosevelt by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau on May 1, 1941. These were marketed first as “Defense Bonds.” Then, in December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. declared war on Japan. And Germany declared war on the U.S. shortly thereafter, bringing the country into World War II.

This required a great deal of financing; about $281 billion was spent for the war effort between 1941 and 1945. The Series E bonds became known as “war bonds” after Pearl Harbor.

This is an early magazine contribution by Boltinoff, who is so widely known for his sharp cartoon lines. The back of the cartoon notes it as a “Defense Bond” depiction, and it appears that the cartoon was sold, with the proceeds going to the Art Students League Scholarship Fund.