Existing comment:
120.9.14.286.9.33-ton 290.9.27 be at 153.9.28.110.8.19.255.9.29 evening 178.9.8
-- an informer's coded message
Panel 11, 1955
The title caption for this panel is an excerpt of a coded message written in the numerical substitution system used by the American Revolutionary military officer turned traitor Benedict Arnold. On September 15, 1780, Arnold informed Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander in chief, and his aide-de-camp, John André, of General George Washington's secret plan to cross the Hudson. The message was deciphered by the loyalist poet Jonathan Odell to read,
General Washington will be at King's Ferry Sunday evening next.
Lawrence juxtaposes this written message with the image of an informer whispering in the ear of his contact. By eliminating the space between the strained faces, Lawrence emphasizes the clandestine, dangerous, and sometimes fatal nature of espionage. André was captured by the Americans and hanged as a spy on October 2, 1780, while Arnold escaped to England with General Charles Cornwallis after the surrender at Yorktown. Arnold died an enemy to the American cause in London on June 14, 1801.
In Lawrence's Time: The photograph in the slideshow above captures Senator Joseph McCarthy (right) and his chief counsel, Roy Cohn (left), whispering during a break from the House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings in June 1954, a televised event that may have inspired Lawrence's image for Panel 11. During the hearings, the men interrogated American citizens suspected to be communists. Their investigations created widespread fear and discredited many of Lawrence's fellow progressive artists and friends as disloyal Americans. |