1941.02.15 “Playing Second Fiddle” (February 15, 1941)
by Jack Patton (1900-1962)
12 x 14 in., ink and crayon on board
Coppola Collection

Jack Patton was originally from Louisiana. He worked as an editorial cartoonist from the 1910s through the 1930s. In the 1930s, he was a widely read editorial cartoonist for The Dallas Morning News. His last editorial cartoons appeared at the end 1939 and perhaps through the start of 1940. During the 1930s, he also began the newspaper strip ‘Restless Age,’ which was followed by ‘Spence Easley’.

As a child, Patton read a magazine advertisement offering easy lessons in drawing. He signed up for a brief course, and it was enough to whet his appetite for a lifetime of cartooning. Scraping together enough money to get to Chicago, he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts. While at the school, he received word that the old Dallas Journal, then the evening publication of The Dallas News, needed an assistant in the art department. Hurrying back to his hometown, Mr. Patton found to his delight that he would work with veteran News cartoonist John Knott. The year was 1918 and two years later his editorial cartoons won a place on page 1 of the Journal. In the early part of his career, Mr. Patton was one of the first men in the business to put out both an editorial cartoon and a comic strip daily. The editorial cartoons had a stinging wit, and the originals were frequently requested by the subjects, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and John Nance Garner.

The “second fiddle” relationship was clearly perceived at the time, and not just in the retrospective analyses written in the modern age. It was not only an apt metaphor, but probably reinforced by Mussolini being an amateur violinist.

Hitler was attracted by Mussolini’s fascism for the way it centralized power, and Mussolini saw an ally in the aggressive Hitler to help lead the way to a world under their shared power. Hitler propped up Mussolini when the Italians were generally opposed to his Fascist regime. Most historians believe that Hitler had genuine affection for the man. Mussolini coined the idea of Europe spinning on a new axis, linking Berlin and Rome, in November 1936, while announcing a friendship alliance with Germany: “This Berlin-Rome protocol is not a barrier, it is rather an axis around which all European States animated by a desire for peace may collaborate on troubles.”

By 1940, Hitler was calling the shots. Mussolini hesitated to join the war, and only declared war on France (July 10, 1940) when it was clear that the underprepared Italians would be riding the coattails of the Germans. The occupation was over so quickly that the Italians did not even have a chance to score a victory. At a meeting between the leaders, Mussolini’s foreign secretary and son-in-law, Count Ciano, said that Il Duce’s opinion had “only a consultative value.” Indeed, from then on Mussolini was obliged to face the fact that he was the junior partner in the Axis alliance, and was not consulted on military decisions until after the fact.

It was to “pay back Hitler in his own coin,” as Mussolini openly admitted, that he decided to attack Greece through Albania in 1940 without informing the Germans. But it was too much for the Italians to handle and Germany came to their aid to clean up the mess. The 1941 campaign to support the German invasion of the Soviet Union also failed disastrously and condemned thousands of ill-equipped Italian troops to a nightmarish winter retreat. Mussolini set his sights on North Africa and extending his Empire to match the territory held by the ancient Romans, whose conquests he desired to copy.

British troops were in North Africa under a 1936 treaty, stationed in Egypt to protect the Suez Canal and Royal Navy bases. Hitler had offered to aid Mussolini early on in his North African quest, to send German troops to help fend off a British counterattack. But Mussolini had been rebuffed when he had offered Italian assistance during the Battle of Britain. He now insisted that as a matter of national pride, Italy would have to create a Mediterranean sphere of influence on its own–or risk becoming a “junior” partner of Germany’s.

Mussolini’s forces proved no match for the Brits. British troops pushed the Italians westward, inflicting extraordinary losses on the Axis forces. On February 5, 1941, Adolf Hitler scolded his Axis partner, Benito Mussolini, for his troops’ retreat in the face of British advances in Libya, demanding that the Duce command his forces to resist. As Britain threatened to push the Italians out of Libya altogether and break through to Tunisia, Mussolini swallowed his pride and asked Hitler for assistance. On February 12, German General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli, Libya, with the newly formed Afrika Korps, to reinforce the beleaguered Italians’ position.

As the modern writers put it:

“Benito Mussolini has been universally regarded as an almost comical stereotype of a blundering dictator, a petit-bourgeois hick from the provinces who played a distant second fiddle to his powerful ally Adolf Hitler, and whose inept leadership and lust for power led Italy to disaster.” – RJB Bosworth

“Their relationship evolved gradually over the years they had known each other. At first, Hitler deferred to the Duce and appeared to have genuine admiration for the more senior dictator. Later, and especially after Mussolini began to play second fiddle to Hitler as a war leader, summit meetings between the two men had consisted mainly of long monologues by Hitler, with Mussolini barely able to get in a word. At one memorable meeting in 1942, Hitler talked for an hour and forty minutes while General Jodl dozed off and Mussolini kept looking at his watch.” – Ray Moseley

After Hitler’s rise to power, Mussolini almost always played second fiddle to Hitler in their joint venture. Aside from a brief span of time in which Mussolini stood in the way of Hitler’s plans to seize Austria, the Italian dictator seems to have been all too willing to accept Hitler’s flattery and praise, while at the same time watching his Axis ally drag him into a war that he couldn’t hope to win. During the many times that the two dictators met, Shirer says that Hitler did all the talking and Mussolini all the listening.

1940.10.31 “Bad Choices” (October 31, 1940)
by Tom Smitch (unknown dates)
5.5 x 7 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

Tom Smitch was an illustrator and cartoonist who worked as a printer in Ryde, for the Isle of Wight County Press. The Isle of Wight is the largest and second-most populated island of England. It is located in the English Channel, just south of Portsmouth. He was British Paratrooper whose work during WW2 is preserved in a book published in 1945, Engelsk krigshumor (English War Humor) with a Danish imprint (Kobenhavn, Samlerens forlag, 1945). He continued his artistic work with cartoons that appeared in the County Press. In an interview, he said about his wartime work, “Despite the heat, dust and flies, I have managed to accumulate a number of sketches. Art must go on if life may be short.” He provided illustrations for two books, at least: “West Indies Tour of England,” (1950), and “Newport Isle of Wight in Bygone Days,” (1952). And that is it for information.

In the cartoon, the Fuhrer is unhappy with the plays being made by Hermann Goering who was, among other things, head of the Luftwaffe. Late October 1940 marked the end of the Battle of Britain (July-Oct, 1940), and the first major defeat of Germany’s military forces, whose reputed air superiority had been seen as the key to sure victory.

The relationship between Hitler and Goering, a WW1 flying ace, was deeply rooted. When Hitler first attempted to seize power in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, Goering was by his side. Unlike Hitler, who went to prison, Goering escaped capture and fled to Austria, taking a bullet to his leg in the process. It was during this time that Goering first came in contact with morphine, to which he became addicted. After two rounds of institutionalization for psychiatric issues, probably resulting from the morphine use, he returned to Germany in 1927. Thanks to his loyalty to Hitler, he quickly rose to the Nazi Party’s upper ranks. His political efforts were instrumental to the Party winning the most seats during the 1932 election, and Goering managed to take the presidency of the Reichstag, which in turn resulted in giving Hitler the title of Chancellor, the de-facto leader of Germany. Among other strong political positions, Hitler appointed Goering as the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe. From his position of power, one of his first key acts was to create the Gestapo. By the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Hitler had named Goering as his successor.

Goering’s rise through the ranks of the Nazi party was accompanied by his ever-expanding waistline (note the delightful dig at this in the cartoon, with a frame picture of a sausage on the wall). His ongoing morphine addiction made him prone to have severe mood swings and may have contributed to the weight gain that transformed the former dashing war hero into the portly figure that was an easy target for mockery. His indulgence went beyond food and drugs. He lived lavishly, setting himself up in a palace in Berlin he named for his first wife. His natural flair for flamboyance and pomp led to him to change uniforms at least five times a day, occasionally donning a medieval hunting uniform or even, as one visitor reported, a full toga and sandals.

Goering’s celebrity came to an abrupt halt in 1940. As head of the Luftwaffe, Goering was responsible for the great air offensive against the one enemy that still stood against Germany in Europe: Britain. However, when the Royal Air Force managed to beat back the Germans against all odds, during the Battle of Britain, Goering bore the brunt of the blame.

Historians tend to agree that disorganization and competing priorities led to two big blunders that, otherwise, might have had this battle go badly for the British. Churchill gave an inspired speech on June 18 announcing ‘the Battle of France is over and the Battle of Britain is about to begin.’ The Germans waited 3 weeks before making a move, which gave a lot of time for the RAF to prepare. Also, against all rules of warfare, the Luftwaffe ended up going after civilian targets, including racking up the political capital of bombing London, rather than focusing on wiping out the airfields and other military installations. Hitler’s attention was on the upcoming surprise attack on Russia. Yet, still, the Luftwaffe fell immediately into a period of intensive blame-laying, including questioning the choices made by Goering.

In the ensuing years, although Goering retained a great deal of authority throughout the war, he increasingly fell from the Fuhrer’s favor and he became more heavily addicted to drugs.

On April 23, 1945, when Hitler was cut off in Berlin as Soviet troops encircled the capital, Goering (who had once again escaped from Germany) sent a telegram to Hitler requesting authorization to take over as Hitler’s successor. Hitler denounces Goering as a traitor, strips him of all his offices, and orders his arrest.

A week later, the defeated Hitler committed suicide. Goering was found and arrested, and was perhaps the highest-ranking member of the group brought to trial at Nuremburg. The day before his scheduled execution, while in custody, he managed to commit suicide with a cyanide pellet.

“Dig it Out and Let the Sun Shine In” (June 25, 1938)
by Frederick Little Packer (1886-1956)
15.25″ x 22.25″, ink on paper
Coppola Collection

End of the New Deal

By 1937 the economy had recovered substantially, and Roosevelt, seeing an opportunity to return to a balanced budget, drastically curtailed government spending. The result was a sharp recession, during which the economy began plummeting toward 1932 levels. By the middle of 1938 the crisis had passed.

By mid 1938 the New Deal was also outliving its welcome. Conservative Southern Democrats openly opposed its continuation, and Roosevelt’s attempt to defeat several of them in the 1938 Democratic primaries (September 1938) not only proved unsuccessful but also produced charges that the president was a dictator trying to conduct a “purge.” In the congressional elections that year the Republicans gained 80 seats in the House and 7 in the Senate.

Another major threat to FDR came from Father Charles E. Coughlin, a radio priest from Detroit. Originally a supporter of the New Deal, Coughlin turned against Roosevelt when he refused to nationalize the banking system and provide for the free coinage of silver. As the decade progressed, Coughlin turned openly anti-Semitic, blaming the Great Depression on an international conspiracy of Jewish bankers. Coughlin formed the National Union for Social Justice and reached a weekly audience of 40 million radio listeners. He also caught the attention of the Nazis.

Roosevelt was criticized for his economic policies, especially the perceived shift in tone from individualism to collectivism with the dramatic expansion of the welfare state and regulation of the economy. Critics would complain of being oppressed and under attack by “the CIO-PAC, Eastern reds and pinks.” The CIO, predecessor to the AFL-CIO, was the first Political Action Committee. Reds and pinks were the direct accusations to being communist sympathizers as it would for years. And the ALP was a small but influential political party (American Labor Party) populated by liberal Democrats and threw its support towards New Deal candidates who supported progressive social policies.

“Are You Just a Shadow Boxer?” (May 20, 1940)
by William (Bill) Crawford (1913–1982)
22″ x 19″ in., ink and crayon on heavy paper
Coppola Collection

Crawford joined the Newark News as an editorial cartoonist in 1938 and his work was widely distributed (to over 700 newspapers).

Don’t just complain about the system, get out and vote! The Crawford cartoon here hinges on noticing that the fellow doing the air boxing is complaining about the Hague machine, and this turns out to be a reference with a lot of connectedness to the political fortunes of FDR and his reelections.

Because of their populations and political connectedness, the New York and New Jersey metropolitan areas were important to FDR.

One of the most influential political figures in the region was Frank Hague, the major of Jersey City, who was a mob boss by any other name. Corruption, bribery, and election fraud were his stock in trade, but he also parlayed a lot of incoming support for his constituents and stayed in power for years. He had a meager public salary and an extravagant life. During the height of his power Hague’s political machine, known as The Organization, was one of the most powerful in the United States controlling politics on local, county, and state levels.

Hague initially opposed FDR’s run for the presidency in 1932, but blew with the wind, as it was clear that Roosevelt was a winning hand.

The Great Depression and the New Deal forged a mutually beneficial alliance between FDR and Hague. Each needed the other. Hague benefited from the federal funds he was allocated by the New Deal relief agencies. Channeling this government assistance through his political machine and ultimately become the dominant figure of the Democratic Party in New Jersey. In return, Hague pledged to secure New Jersey for Roosevelt in his reelection campaigns. For FDR, this necessitated a policy of willful indifference (plausible deniability, sir) towards Hague’s corrupt ways.

Hague was skilled with voter support, having been a strong and early advocate for Suffrage and peddling influence in other urban areas, particularly in Chicago.

Hague’s influence not only made him the most powerful Democrat in his state, it helped nominate FDR and delivered New Jersey’s electoral vote to Roosevelt in all four presidential elections in which Roosevelt ran. Critics condemned Hague as the “Hitler of Hudson County,” where he was also accurately called “the law” (and saw himself that way).

Roosevelt wanted to prosecute the machine’s criminals, but he also wanted to provide Depression relief and New Jersey’s electoral vote, both of which the mayor controlled. This reality proved crucial to Roosevelt’s election to an unprecedented third term in 1940. Thanks to 173,000 ballots produced by the mayor in Hudson County, Roosevelt overcame Wendell Willkie’s lead of 101,500 and won the state’s electoral vote by a plurality of 71,500. Although most of the ballots were legal, critics complained of extensive fraud.

A report from the New York Times summed it up this way:

NEW JERSEY: Boss
Monday, May 20, 1940

Last week, as New Jersey prepared for its primary, Democratic Boss Frank Hague wore the innocent expression of a gambler with a sure thing. Mr. Hague has come so close to running both parties that he has nearly reduced New Jersey to a one-party State.

The secret of Boss Hague’s success is as simple and austere as arithmetic. He holds tight control of Hudson County, where he is boss and mayor of Jersey City. New Jersey, outside of Hudson County, normally votes Republican; but year in, year out, populous, Democratic Hudson County holds the balance of power in New Jersey, and Boss Hague has Hudson County tucked in his neat derby hat.

“What a Headache We’re Building Up” (July 5, 1941)
by Grover Page (1892-1958)
9 x 11 in., ink on drawing board
Coppola Collection

Page was born a few days after the election of Grover Cleveland to the presidency. That’s how the future cartoonist got his name. He decided at age ten on his calling and began drawing at the Gastonia public schools. He completed his formal education at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. Page became an editorial cartoonist at age eighteen with the Baltimore Sun. After working for the Nashville Tennessean for two years, Page moved on to the Louisville Courier-Journal. He spent the next thirty-nine years there drawing pointed and strongly opinionated cartoons.

The year 1941 was a critical one in WW2. The Germans had turned on Russia, with Operation Barbarossa, on June 22, and the Nazis were carrying out the heaviest bombings on England with the heavy threat of invasion in the wind. The initial thrust of the invasion of Russia was strong for the Germans, and by July 3, Stalin made a broadcast calling on the people of the Soviet Union to pursue a scorched earth policy and conduct guerrilla warfare against the invaders.

Still sequestered and under the sway of the isolationists, FDR made an Independence Day broadcast warning that “the United States will never survive as a happy and fertile oasis of liberty surrounded by a cruel desert of dictatorship. And so it is that when we repeat the great pledge to our country and to our flag, it must be our deep conviction that we pledge as well our work, our will, and, if it be necessary, our very lives.”

There is contemporary evidence that Stalin might have been planning his own invasion of German territory, particularly boldened by a strong air force, but the long-planned Barbarossa quashed that immediately. Churchill reached out to Stalin as soon as Bararossa started, and, by July 12, he was in Moscow to sign a cooperation pact with Stalin. Still months before Pearl Harbor would bring the US into the conflict, the blueprint for Germany’s reach exceeding its grasp was being laid down.

This cartoon, from the day after FDR’s address, reinforces the critical neglect displayed by the US as country after country had fallen to the Nazis, and now, early in the invasion of Russia, there is a commentary of fear that Stalin will fall, also, as had those before him.

“The Man Who Caught the Wildcat” (December 22, 1939)
by Bill Saylor
10 x 12 in., ink on drawing board
Coppola Collection

Bill Saylor was the editorial cartoonist at the Houston Post, was a Corporal in the Marines during WW2, and retired from the Houston Post in the late 70’s.

The Battle of Summa was fought between the Soviet Union and Finland, in two phases, first in December 1939 and then in February 1940. It was part of the “Winter War” and was fought near the village of Summa (now Soldatskoye) along the main road leading from Leningrad to Viipuri.

The village of Summa was a gateway to the city of Viipuri. The Finns had built 41 reinforced concrete bunkers in the Summa area, and the defense line was stronger than elsewhere in the Karelian Isthmus. However, the Finns had made mistakes in planning and nearby Munasuo swamp, east of Summa, had a kilometer-wide gap in the line. At least 20 tanks drove through the line in the first day of battle, but the Soviets did not have proper co-operation between branches of service; tanks, artillery and troops fought their own battles. The Finns stood still in trenches and allowed the Soviet tanks to move behind the defense line on December 19th, as they did not have proper anti-tank weapons. After that the Finns repelled the Soviet main troops. Soviet tanks cut-off behind the line aimlessly attacked Finnish strongpoints, but once these were eliminated the threat was over. The Finns won the battle on December 22.

1940.10.08 “So Am I!” (October 8, 1940)
by Bill Saylor
10 x 13 in., ink on drawing board
Coppola Collection

Bill Saylor was the editorial cartoonist at the Houston Post, was a Corporal in the Marines during WW2, and retired from the Houston Post in the late 70’s.

With the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939, the US government began to try to enlarge the size of the regular army through normal, voluntary means. Conscription was still not a viable option, especially given that the United States had not yet entered the war. General Douglas MacArthur captured the sentiment of the American people when he said during this era, “The traditions of our people [permit no] compulsory military service in time of peace.”

Nevertheless, less than a year later, on September 16, 1940, a draft law that put in place the first peace time draft in the United States was passed. Like the World War I draft approach, this new system was implemented locally in order to cultivate a feeling of familiarity and community associated with military service. The registration system also developed quotas based upon the population of each designated zone.

Men were first selected after a national lottery based on age, then through local selection depending on men’s “marital status, dependency, occupation, education, and physical condition.” The World War II draft was not met with the same opposition that the Civil War draft was in large part because it was a gradual process – people were given time for the idea of the draft to set in, then time to register, and finally time to be in the army without having to participate in any fighting.

Roosevelt was mentally preparing the American people for war, he was also well aware that the United States was not equipped with the manpower it would need to fight in World War II. Though the plan originated in the army, Roosevelt formally declared his support for a draft on August 2, 1940.

“For purposes of defense, we have to have men who are already trained beforehand. In doing that we save lives – we save human lives. That is the important thing… you cannot get a sufficiently trained force of all kinds at the front, in the output, you cannot get it by just passing an Act of Congress when war breaks out, and you cannot get it by the mere volunteer system.”

Roosevelt’s logic rested on the assumption that the United States would inevitably be entering the war soon and that the draft was needed to defend the nation. The debate over a peace time draft raged throughout the third session of the 76th Congress. Those against the draft were ardent believers in the liberty of American citizens and their case rested upon their faith in freedom. In a radio broadcast from the floor of the House of Representatives, Congressman John C. Kunkel of Pennsylvania argued: “My experience is that most people tend to overlook the very real dangers which are presented by either alternative [volunteer recruitment or conscription]. People who oppose peacetime conscription have a tendency to ignore or minimize possible future danger from Hitler. People who favor conscription tend to take the view that we can adopt totalitarian methods and shed them at will, yet history in man, many instances has indicated that this can rarely be done.”