Existing comment:
Subjects Respond
"Such is his inescapable fondness for the political trade that Oliphant goes out of his way to avoid meeting politicians for fear of blunting his needle."
-- Time: The Weekly News Magazine, 1968
Oliphant had never wanted to like a politician: doing so would make his job harder. Readers were often shocked at his treatment of people they revered. Yet his subjects -- even Richard Nixon, his favorite target -- appreciated even the most unflattering treatment, and wrote to request an unknown number of originals for their own files. Oliphant has said, "It's hard to displease them. You can do almost anything to them but it doesn't matter because they're getting in the paper."
Many an Oliphant original has hung on the walls of Washington corridors of power, part of the daily visual landscape of governing. Early gifted drawings remain in private collections or politicians' archives, and researchers wishing to study them today may sometimes have a long hunt ahead. |