“Surprise, Surprise!” (May 22, 1939)
by Paul D. Battenfield (1896 – 1985)
13 x 15.25 in., Crayon in varying densities, with painted white highlights, on pebble-grain Coquille board.
Coppola Collection

Battenfield (1896-1985) was a two-time Pulitzer finalist and a mainstay of the cartoonists’ bullpen at the Chicago Times.

The Pact of Steel, known formally as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, was signed by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini on May 22, 1939. The alliance originated in a series of agreements between Germany and Italy, followed by the proclamation of an “axis” binding Rome and Berlin (October 25, 1936), with the two powers claiming that the world would henceforth rotate on the Rome-Berlin axis.

The pact was initially drafted as a tripartite military alliance between Japan, Italy and Germany. While Japan wanted the focus of the pact to be aimed at the Soviet Union, Italy and Germany wanted it aimed at the British Empire and France.

Battenfield’s sarcastic take on the unconditional huggy-bear bromance between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Battenfield equips the dictators with sappy dimwit grins.

I for one would love, love, love to see the version of this with Trump and Kim and the caption of their “love letters” to one another.

The Leon T. Walkowicz’s Chicago-based archive: A patron of the arts and co-founder of the Alliance of Polish-American Veterans and the Polish-American Historical Society, Walkowicz (1898-1959) provided the basis of an influential collection at Loyola University.