“Ain’t Doing Bad for a Tenderfoot” (June 30, 1936)
by Gerald Aloysius (Jerry) Doyle, Jr. (1898-1986)
13 x 13 in., ink on board

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).

The 1936 election was the last Democratic landslide in the west. Democrats won every state except Kansas (opposition Alfred Landon’s home state) by more than 10%. West of the Great Plains States, Democrats only lost seven counties. Since 1936, only Richard Nixon in 1972 has even approached such a disproportionate ratio. After 1936, the west rapidly became a Republican stronghold, the only region that has been consistent in the party it supports for such a long time.

The editorial commentary about New Yorker FDR’s ability to woo the (wild) Western states impresses the local political forces: Joseph O’Mahoney (Wyoming), Burton Kendall Wheeler (Montana), and Edward Burke (Nebraska).

In 1940 and 1944, a big patch of Red reappeared in the heartland.