BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Library of Congress -- Exhibit: Herblock Gallery (2015)

DC -- Library of Congress -- Exhibit: Herblock Gallery (2015):

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Description of Pictures: Herblock Looks at 1965: Fifty Years Ago in Editorial Cartoons, Part II
Exhibition dates: September 26, 2015–March 19, 2016
After winning a landslide victory in the 1964 presidential election, Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) promoted legislation that improved education, medical care, retirement benefits, and voting rights for all Americans. Through his cartoons, Herblock sided with Johnson on his Great Society programs—aimed at reducing poverty in America—and the implementation of democratic immigration reform and gun control. However, the cartoonist felt Johnson’s Vietnam policy was too aggressive.
Herblock also focused his attention on the horrific stranglehold Ku Klux Klan organizations held on American politics and the legal system, as well as the Klan’s involvement with the local police force in the Southern states. Although the Klan had existed in various iterations for a century, by 1965 participation rates had increased enormously in the South in response to the civil rights movement and African American mobilization in the 1960s. Although a minority of Southern whites belonged to the Klan, the organization’s ruthless murders and intimidation made headlines news and drew the attention of President Johnson, who used both the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee to undermine Klan organizations.

Herblock Looks at 1965: Fifty Years Ago in Editorial Cartoons, Part I
Exhibition dates: March 21, 2015–September 19, 2015
After winning a landslide victory in the 1964 presidential election, Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) promoted legislation that improved education, medical care, retirement benefits, and voting rights for all Americans. Through his cartoons, Herblock sided with Johnson on his Great Society programs—aimed at reducing poverty in America—and the implementation of democratic immigration reform. However, the cartoonist felt Johnson’s Vietnam policy was too aggressive.
Despite legislative protection gained under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, voting rights remained an issue. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 permitted the federal intervention when states prevented minorities from registering to vote. For Herblock, the right to vote was a basic civil right, and he quoted President Johnson’s speech on March 15, 1965: “Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right.”
Herblock also addressed other issues in 1965. Believing that the right-wing put a stranglehold on the moderates, the cartoonist focused on the internal discord in the Republican Party. As more nations built nuclear weapons during the Cold War, Herblock used Mr. Atom, rough and unshaven, to remind Americans of the fragility of life.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. LOCHER_150117_001.JPG: "Underneath his genius for cartooning and writing lies a modest, sweet, aw-shucks personality. Underneath that lies a layer of iron and steel. For the publishers and editors over him -- or under him, as it would be more accurate to say -- it's like having a tiger by the tail." -- Katharine Graham (1917-2001), Washington Post publisher
2. LOCHER_150117_005.JPG: Herblock Looks at 1964: Fifty Years Ago in Editorial Cartoons During the first year of his presidency, Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) made the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a priority, honoring slain President John F. Kennedy's (1917–1963) legacy. The legislation continues to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and dominates the memory of American life fifty years ago. Herblock had long championed equality and civil rights for African Americans through his political cartoons. After Kennedy's assassination in 1963, however, Herblock did not attack Johnson or his policies. His attention was drawn to the Republican Party and its internal discord between the moderate course favored by Nelson Rockefeller (1908–1979) and the right-wing politics of Barry Goldwater (1909–1998). Their rancor came to the fore in the 1964 presidential campaign. Herblock also emphasized the need for gun control to protect America's children. Having quit smoking after a heart attack in 1959, the cartoonist also frequently used his pen as a weapon against the tobacco industry. Internationally, Herblock understood the different interpretations of communism in China and the Soviet Union, which led to increased political tension in the world.
3. LOCHER_150117_009.JPG: "A cartoon does not tell everything about a subject. It's not supposed to. No written piece tells everything either. As far as words are concerned, there is no safety in numbers. The test of a written or drawn commentary is whether it gets at an essential truth." -- Herblock
4. LOCHER_150117_012.JPG: Rose Garden While Herblock frequently drew cartoons about the Republican Party candidates during the 1964 presidential election, this sunny cartoon, depicting everything “coming up roses,” expresses the cartoonist’s feelings about Lyndon Baines Johnson just five months after the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson announced his Great Society program to eliminate poverty on April 24, 1964, a program of which Herblock approved. Rose Garden, 1964. Published in the Washington Post, April 26, 1964.
5. LOCHER_150117_023.JPG: "We Stand Upon Our Historic Principles" By having a Barry Goldwater delegate crush an image of President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) as the Republican Party held its presidential nomination convention in San Francisco, Herblock makes it clear that he saw the Republican Party divorcing itself from its historic past with its shift to the right. Because enforcing the newly signed Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a political platform issue, Herblock and other journalists noted the increasing racism from the party that had freed the slaves. "We Stand Upon Our Historic Principles—," 1964. Published in the Washington Post, July 14, 1964.
6. LOCHER_150117_032.JPG: The Melancholy Days Are Come Herblock used a wild, ghoulish tree sporting the eyeglasses of Republican Party presidential nominee Barry Goldwater to portray what he saw as the candidate’s pessimism and negativity. In the last three weeks before the November 3, 1964, election, Goldwater attacked Johnson’s policies and stated that “the time has come for the Democratic Party to change its name to the Socialist Party.” Chastising voters, Goldwater stated that American moral fiber is “beset with rot and decay.” Goldwater lost the election by a wide margin, winning 38.5 percent of the popular vote and carrying only six states. The Melancholy Days Are Come —, 1964. Published in the Washington Post, October 13, 1964.
7. LOCHER_150117_045.JPG: "It’ll be a Relief to Get Back to Plain Old Horror Shows" Bemoaning the endless negativity in election advertisements, Herblock portrays a couple sitting on a couch wishing they could watch horror shows. The Democratic Party’s famous advertisement featuring a little girl counting petals on a daisy while nuclear holocaust ensued rarely aired during the 1964 election, but its pessimistic tone echoed throughout mass media. As a result, political advertising itself became a campaign issue. The Democratic Party hired ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach to shape their image; the party won not only the presidency but maintained control of the House and Senate. "It’ll be a Relief to Get Back to Plain Old Horror Shows," 1964. Published in the Washington Post, October 30, 1964.
8. LOCHER_150117_056.JPG: Right-wing Control Turkey Chases the G.O.P. Days before Americans celebrated Thanksgiving in 1964, Herblock used the turkey as a metaphor for right-wing Republicans, which he believed had the potential to cleave the party into two. Because Republicans had lost seats in the House, they were still the minority party in Congress and had lost the presidential election. Herblock argued “it certainly looked as if the party needed new direction and brighter, more attractive leadership if it was not determined to plod on to wherever it is that the elephants go to die.” Enlarge Right-wing Control Turkey Chases the G.O.P., 1964. Published in the Washington Post, November 18, 1964.
9. LOCHER_150117_066.JPG: "Man, We're Pressure-Cooking On All Burners" In June 1964, natural gas producers pressured President Johnson not to extend F.E.P. Commissioner Charles R. Ross to a second term. Turning up the heat, the industry lobbied Congress, the White House, and the Federal Power Commission. Herblock wrote, “Some of these seem to be under the impression that the agencies exist to serve the industries they’re supposed to regulate….” Enlarge "Man, We’re Pressure-Cooking on All Burners," 1964. Published in the Washington Post, June 16, 1964.
10. LOCHER_150117_081.JPG: "Oh, Boy!—If the Russians Change Policy—If the U.S. Government Changes Hands—" Weeks before the 1964 United States presidential election, the Soviets announced Nikita Khrushchev’s (1894–1971) “retirement” on October 15, 1964. The news caused international concern that the policy of “peaceful co-existence with the West” might come to an end. Herblock feared that international instability would undermine the 1963 Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In 1946, he had created Mr. Atom, a menacing warhead that frequently appeared in his Cold War cartoons as a metaphor for the fragility of life. "Oh, Boy!—If the Russians Change Policy—If the U.S. Government Changes Hands—," Published in the Washington Post, October 16, 1964.
11. LOCHER_150117_094.JPG: "You Don’t Even Need to Limit Yourself to a Few People" By the end of 1964, more than a year after the November 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Congress failed to pass significant gun control legislation. Herblock vented his frustration using sarcasm and exaggeration. Members of the National Rifle Association, divided over the issue of controlling mail-order gun purchases, unified their opposition to new laws proposed in nearly every state. Harper’s Magazine reacted to their resistance to gun licenses, calling the NRA a “high-powered pressure group . . . within gunshot of the White House.” "You Don’t Even Need to Limit Yourself to a Few People," 1964. Published in the Washington Post, December 29, 1964.
12. LOCHER_150117_114.JPG: Investigation in Mississippi An investigation into the deaths of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney revealed a Ku Klux Klan plot that particularly targeted Schwerner and Goodman because they were Jewish. Herblock drew this cartoon in response to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s mass arrest on December 4, 1964, of twenty-one men involved in their murders. Those charged in the crimes included Neshoba County sheriff Lawrence A. Rainey and his deputy, Cecil Price. Investigation in Mississippi, 1964. Published in the Washington Post, December 8, 1964.
13. LOCHER_150117_121.JPG: War Footing Despite both the military and financial assistance provided to Vietnam, both the Johnson Administration and Herblock despaired over the lack of clout the United States held. Herblock used the visual metaphor of an American soldier tripping backwards down a staircase to symbolize faltering prestige. In December 1964, General Nguyen Khanh overthrew a fledging Vietnamese civilian government and spoke out against U.S. ambassador Maxwell D. Taylor and his foreign policy. Khanh warned if Taylor did not “act more intelligently, the United States will lose Southeast Asia and we will lose our freedom.” War Footing, 1964. Published in the Washington Post, December 23, 1964.
14. LOCHER_150327_001.JPG: Herblock Looks at 1965: Fifty Years Ago in Editorial Cartoons, Part I After winning a landslide victory in the 1964 presidential election, Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) promoted legislation that improved education, medical care, retirement benefits, and voting rights for all Americans. Through his cartoons, Herblock sided with Johnson on his Great Society programs -- aimed at reducing poverty in America -- and the implementation of democratic immigration reform. However, the cartoonist felt Johnson's Vietnam policy was too aggressive. Despite legislative protection gained under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, voting rights remained an issue. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 permitted the federal intervention when states prevented minorities from registering to vote. For Herblock, the right to vote was a basic civil right, and he quoted President Johnson's speech on March 15, 1965: "Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right." Herblock also addressed other issues in 1965. Believing that the right-wing put a stranglehold on the moderates, the cartoonist focused on the internal discord in the Republican Party. As more nations built nuclear weapons during the Cold War, Herblock used Mr. Atom, rough and unshaven, to remind Americans of the fragility of life.
15. LOCHER_150327_005.JPG: “YOU’RE REALLY ROLLING UP QUITE A RECORD” Having declared a “war on poverty,” President Johnson used the legislative process to build programs that provided more Americans with equal opportunities. In 1965, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that increased funding to public schools. It also created Medicare for the elderly. By passing the Voting Rights Act, it banned discriminatory practices aimed at minorities. Herblock drew this cartoon a week before Easter in 1965, with a nod to the annual tradition of the White House Easter Egg Roll. “You’re Really Rolling Up Quite a Record,” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, April 11, 1965.
16. LOCHER_150327_018.JPG: “WE SEEM TO HAVE THAT PAPER TIGER IN OUR TANK” In this cartoon Herblock uses the term “paper tiger,” a Chinese adage that signifies something is less threatening than it appears. Herblock intends the phrase to be ironic, arguing that Operation Flaming Dart, the aggressive U.S. response on February 7–8, 1965, to North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. military bases was effective in surprising the North Vietnamese. While President Johnson relied on bombing early in 1965, he waited as late as March 8, 1965, before sending ground forces into Vietnam. “We Seem to Have That Paper Tiger in Our Tank,” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, February 10, 1965.
17. LOCHER_150327_029.JPG: “YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU’RE AN ELEPHANT?” When Senator Barry Goldwater formed the Free Society Association in 1965, it further divided the Republican Party. Goldwater did not receive the support of the existing right-wing of the Republican Party or the John Birch Society. He angered Ray Bliss, the party chairman, who said, “I believe we should be presenting a united front to the opposition . . .” By portraying the elephant in the chokehold of an octopus, Herblock expressed his opinion that the right-wing was destroying the Republican Party. “You Absolutely Sure You’re an Elephant?” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, July 1, 1965.
18. LOCHER_150327_041.JPG: "YOU MEAN YOU WANT TO CLOSE THE JOINT JUST WHEN I WAS BEGINNING TO GET A CROWD?” Using the metaphor of the relatively new craze called the “discotheque,” night spots that featured recorded music instead of live bands, Herblock compared the group of nations building nuclear weapons to a club. In 1965, the United Nations prepared resolution 2028 aimed at stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Herblock’s Mr. Atom, an ongoing character, grouses at the thought of the United Nations imposing limitations. “You Mean You Want to Close the Joint Just When I Was Beginning to Get a Crowd?” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, November 26, 1965.
19. LOCHER_150327_052.JPG: “SPEAKING OF NATIONAL ORIGINS—” President Johnson, in his special message to Congress on immigration on January 13, 1965, proposed to eliminate the National Origins Quota System. By showing the president gesturing toward a picture of a colonist establishing democracy, Herblock indicated his approval for the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. The act opened the doors of the United States to all highly-educated and skilled legal emigrants, and not just those coming from Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany. “Speaking of National Origins—,” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, January 15, 1965.
20. LOCHER_150327_065.JPG: LITERACY TEST Having secured the Civil Rights Act in 1964, President Johnson made passing the Voting Rights Act the focus of his 1965 legislative agenda. Motivated by the deadly racial violence at the hands of the police during the marches of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, Selma Voting Rights Campaign, Johnson proposed the new law to Congress on March 15, 1965. Herblock quotes the president, and by depicting a white police officer grappling with the text, implied that African Americans had been denied their constitutional rights. Literacy Test, 1965. Published in the Washington Post, March 17, 1965.
21. LOCHER_150327_072.JPG: “AFTER ALL, WE’RE NOT AGAINST VOTING RIGHTS IN PRINCIPLE—ONLY IN PRACTICE” As the U.S. Senate debated the Voting Rights Act, Republican Everett Dirksen, one of the bill’s initial sponsors, proposed an amendment excluding states where 60 percent or more of the eligible adult population was registered to vote. It would have rendered the legislation ineffectual. Herblock conveys in his cartoon that although conservative senators did not want to enfranchise African American voters, they were unwilling to make explicitly racist statements. On May 26, 1965, the Senate passed the bill without the Dirksen amendment and forwarded it to the House of Representatives. “After All, We’re Not Against Voting Rights in Principle—Only in Practice,” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, April 14, 1965.
22. LOCHER_150327_085.JPG: THE MARCH GOES ON As the Senate approved the Voting Rights Act on May 26, 1965, the legislation moved forward, with a high priority from the Johnson administration, to the House for consideration. Herblock portrays the bill as a marcher, leaving the Senate floor despite efforts to stop it. In March 1965, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders had marched from Selma to Montgomery to pressure Alabama to permit African Americans to register to vote. They used their march to focus the national spotlight on the disenfranchisement of minorities. Enlarge The March Goes On, 1965. Published in the Washington Post, May 30, 1965.
23. LOCHER_150327_094.JPG: “DON’T BE GETTING ANY IDEAS THAT YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO VOTE” As the Senate prepared bipartisan voting rights legislation the Johnson administration, recalling the filibuster that slowed the passage of the previous year’s Civil Rights Act, pressured the sponsors Democrat Mike Mansfield and Republican Everett Dirksen to move forward quickly. Herblock, mindful that the Senate Rules Committee had failed to strengthen the cloture rule to break filibusters, shared the Johnson administration’s fears. “Don’t Be Getting Any Ideas That You Have a Right to Vote,” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, March 11,1965.
24. LOCHER_150327_105.JPG: “SAY, THIS IS OKAY—A MAJORITY OF US THAT CAN VOTE IN THIS STATE WOULD DECIDE WHOSE VOTES WON’T MEAN MUCH IN THE FUTURE” Herblock imagined the relief that some people may have felt when Senator Everett Dirksen introduced his amendment to weaken the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Believing that Senator Ted Kennedy’s amendment to eliminate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections violated states’ rights, Dirksen then introduced an amendment to exclude states where 60 percent or more of the eligible adult population was registered to vote. With the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, African Americans registered to vote and began to elect African Americans into local, state, and national offices. “Say, This Is Okay—A Majority of Us That Can Votes in This State Would Decide Whose Votes Won’t Mean Much in the Future,” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, April 6, 1965.
25. LOCHER_151005_001.JPG: Herblock Looks at 1965: Fifty Years Ago in Editorial Cartoons, Part II After winning a landslide victory in the 1964 presidential election, Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) promoted legislation that improved education, medical care, retirement benefits, and voting rights for all Americans. Through his cartoons, Herblock sided with Johnson on his Great Society programs -- aimed at reducing poverty in America -- and the implementation of democratic immigration reform and gun control. However, the cartoonist felt Johnson's Vietnam policy was too aggressive. Herblock also focused his attention on the horrific stranglehold Ku Klux Klan organizations held on American politics and the legal system, as well as the Klan's involvement with the local police force in the Southern states. Although the Klan had existed in various iterations for a century, by 1965 participation rates had increased enormously in the South in response to the civil rights movement and African American mobilization in the 1960s. Although a minority of Southern whites belonged to the Klan, the organization's ruthless murders and intimidation made headlines news and drew the attention of President Johnson, who used both the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee to undermine Klan organizations.
26. LOCHER_151005_007.JPG: “DON’T POINT THAT THING AT ME!” Incensed that a mail-order rifle was used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), Connecticut Senator Thomas J. Dodd (1907–1971) introduced legislation to control the distribution of guns. Firearms control was just one facet of President Johnson’s efforts to reduce crime. The weapons industry, as Herblock showed, both feared and resisted new legislation. President Johnson signed the Gun Control Act of 1968 into law on October 22, 1968, after both the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968), and Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) had been assassinated. “Don’t Point That Thing at Me!” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, March 10, 1965.
27. LOCHER_151005_018.JPG: ANOTHER GOVERNMENT GOES DOWN Recognizing that the military junta led by General Nguyễn Kh�nh (1927–2013) wielded the real political power in South Vietnam, Herblock used the metaphor of an hourglass to portray yet another Vietnamese civilian regime lost to the sands of time. The anti-Communist civilian government of Trần Văn Hương (1903–1982) which the United States had supported, collapsed on January 27, 1965. Another Government Goes Down, 1965. Published in the Washington Post, January 28, 1965.
28. LOCHER_151005_031.JPG: “KEEP THE LOCAL HOSPITALS OPEN—I’M BLEEDING!” In 1965, facing pressure from the White House to operate its regional hospital facilities more efficiently, the Veterans Administration closed several of its outmoded campuses and focused efforts on fewer but larger and newer hospitals. Many members of Congress protested the decision—calling it “cruel” and “heartless”—especially those whose districts would be impacted by closures. In this drawing, Herblock illustrates the conflict Congress faced when attempting to balance the federal budget demands with the needs of their local economies. “Keep the Local Hospitals Open—I’m Bleeding!” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, January 31, 1965.
29. LOCHER_151005_042.JPG: SPECIAL COVER In February 1965, the Post Office admitted that it had been tracking the incoming mail of more than 24,000 people after a Senate judiciary subcommittee exposed the unconstitutional government surveillance. Postmaster General John A. Gronouski (1919–1996) refused to turn over the list of those targeted, which included the address of at least one member of Congress. Playing on the visual pun of first day covers—cards or envelopes issued by the U.S. Post Office that mark the first day a new stamp is announced, Herblock also referred to the Post Office’s meaning of the phrase “to spy.” Enlarge Special Cover, 1965. Published in the Washington Post, March 3, 1965.
30. LOCHER_151005_050.JPG: “YOU CAN GO BACK TO WHEREVER YOU CAME FROM” As the judiciary committees in both the House and Senate prepared sweeping immigration reform, Herblock indicated his approval for the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 by showing President Johnson and the 89th Congress ready to remove “immigration snobbery” from the Statue of Liberty. The act opened the doors of the United States to all highly-educated and skilled legal emigrants, and not just those coming from Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany. “You Can Go Back to Wherever You Came From,” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, August 1, 1965.
31. LOCHER_151005_067.JPG: “A GUY’S ENTITLED TO A JURY OF HIS PEERS, AIN’T HE?” Herblock sympathized with Alabama State Attorney General Richmond M. Flowers (1918–2007). Flowers faced the challenge of finding jurors who did not proudly espouse white supremacist views when Collie Leroy Wilkins, Jr., (1945–1994) went to trial for the murder of Viola Gregg Liuzzo (1925–1965), a white civil rights activist who had participated in the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Prosecutors in Hayneville, Alabama, had found it difficult to convict other Ku Klux Klan members for their roles in the death of other white protest marchers. Initially acquitted on state charges, Wilkins was later convicted in a federal court and served seven years for depriving Liuzzo of her civil rights. Enlarge “A Guy’s Entitled to a Jury of His Peers, Ain’t He,” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, October 19, 1965.
32. LOCHER_151005_079.JPG: COMMEMORATING THE ACTION AT MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, MARCH 1965 As African Americans and white sympathizers in Alabama protested literacy tests and taxes devised to prevent blacks from voting, Governor George Wallace (1919–1998) used the police force to ruthlessly enforce crowd control. Herblock drew a fictitious memorial honoring the policemen who clubbed non-violent protestors on March 16, 1965, who were petitioning Wallace to enforce the Civil Rights Act. National reaction to the violence and pressure by President Johnson compelled Wallace to grant permission to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., to lead marchers from Selma to Montgomery. Commemorating the Action at Montgomery, Alabama, March 1965, 1965. Published in the Washington Post, March 18, 1965.
33. LOCHER_151005_090.JPG: “THOSE SNEAKS!” Alabama officials arrested four Ku Klux Klan members for their role in the murder of Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white civil rights activist who had been shot as she drove a teenage African American organizer from Montgomery to Selma on March 25, 1965. On April 21, 1965, Gary Thomas Rowe, Jr. (1933–1998), one of the klansmen and also an FBI mole, testified at the trial of purported Klan members about what he witnessed. His actions had permitted their swift arrest and trial. Although initially acquitted in state trial, they were later convicted in a federal court. Enlarge “Those Sneaks!” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, April 23, 1965.
34. LOCHER_151005_105.JPG: MOST LAW-ABIDING STATE IN THE NATION African Americans testified before the United States Civil Rights Commission in Jackson, Mississippi, about the violence and torture that prevented them from exercising their right to vote. Governor Paul Johnson (1916–1985) contributed his own testimony, assuring the federal officials that he intended to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964. By portraying a policeman and a Klansman in cahoots, hands on the holsters of their weapons, Herblock expressed his negative opinion of Johnson and his skepticism about the enforcement of the law. “I Wish to Assure All Americans that Mississippi Will Continue to be the Most Law-Abiding State in the Nation”—Gov. Paul Johnson, 1965. Published in the Washington Post, February 18, 1965.
35. LOCHER_151005_118.JPG: “AND FOR THESE FINE AMERICAN KLAN BOYS A GREAT BIG RED-BLOODED HAND” Chafing as Viola Gregg Liuzzo’s murderers paraded through the streets of Dunn, North Carolina, with members of the Ku Klux Klan, Herblock decried their “American” values. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 reduced the legal means to suppress African Americans, but Ku Klux Klan membership—and the violence associated with it—increased. Calling the Klan a “hooded society of bigots,” President Johnson used the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee to disrupt the assortment of organizations that comprised the Klan. “And For These Fine American Klan Boys a Great Big Red-Blooded Hand,” 1965. Published in the Washington Post, May 20, 1965.
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Description of Subject Matter: Herblock Gallery
March 18, 2011–Ongoing
The Herblock Gallery celebrates the work of editorial cartoonist Herbert L. Block—better known as "Herblock"—with an ongoing display of ten original drawings, to change every six months, drawn from the Library's extensive Herbert L. Block Collection.
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