Showing posts with label Library of Congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Library of Congress. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Political Cartoons: Public opinion was forged with humor from the blacksmith shop


How would Joe Biden look at the anvil? Traditionally, political cartoons have portrayed US Presidents as blacksmiths and, sometimes, farriers. Here you see President Woodrow Wilson portrayed in 1917 as a striker, not the smith. Uncle Sam is the smith, and he is urging Wilson to swing and hit, while the iron is still hot. The shoe has "crisis" written on it; it probably refers to the hesitation of the United States under Wilson to abandon isolationism and enter World War I on the side of the Allies. This old political cartoon by William Allen Rogers is from the archive of the Library of Congress's Cabinet of American Illustration.


Saturday Night Live notwithstanding, there hasn’t been much to laugh about when it comes to US politics lately. And ever since former-farrier Lincoln Chafee dropped out of the Democratic primaries back in 2015, there have been almost no tie-ins at all to hoofcare, horseshoes or even horses.