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"[In] 1952, Herblock had incurred the wrath of Phillip Graham, the Post's publisher, who was supporting the Republican presidential candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower, against his democratic opponent, Adlai E. Stevenson. In the final weeks of his campaign, Graham asked Herblock to stop submitting his 'anti-Ike cartoons.'" [2] When the Post halted his work, readers were angered that Graham was censoring his own cartoonist. Marcela Brane, the President of the Herblock Foundation said, “Herblock could do nothing about that [pulling the cartoon] but the public's reaction to the missing Herblock cartoons caused the boss to put his cartoon back in because of the public's negative reaction.” [3]
The people valued Herblock's cartoons enough to stand up for him against those who tried to control his opinions. His right to speak about Eisenhower's election transcended the attempted limits set by his editors. |
"Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower holds up his fingers in the V for victory sign as he and happy Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower sit in their hotel room in New York on Nov. 4, 1952, after Ike’s election as the next president of the United States." (AP Photo)
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“A publicity scrum followed, and the reaction was so strong, that Herblock was put back in the paper. More importantly, his right at the Post to publish his own opinion was never again questioned." Image and caption courtesy of the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Navigation in bottom right-hand corner Click to zoom for Herblock's original work |
"Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower holds a tearful little girl, 10-month-old Yvonne Luttrell of Tampa, Fla., July 8, 1952, at his visitors' headquarters in Chicago." (AP Photo)
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Cartoons courtesy of The Herb Block Foundation
Photographs courtesy of Associated Press
Photographs courtesy of Associated Press