Caricature and National Character: The United States at War by Christopher J. Gilbert

Author:Christopher J. Gilbert [Gilbert, Christopher J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780271089768
Google: ZKPEzQEACAAJ
Publisher: PennStateUP
Published: 2021-09-15T20:41:25+00:00

FIG. 22 Oliver W. Harrington, “Hey, why don’t somebody tell these damn starvin’ brats that there ain’t enough for me and them too!,” 1969. From Daily World, April 13, 1969. Used with permission of Dr. Helma Harrington, Berlin.

With hints of aversion to the war industry and even to US imperialism, as well as intimations that mistreatment of children amounts to war crimes, Harrington homed in on what political activist and social democrat Michael Harrington called in 1962 “the other America.” The Otherness in this one of Two Americas is defined by the tension between “the right war at home” and “the wrong war in Southeast Asia.”90 Consider a cartoon from the Daily World in July 1969 (which was reprinted a number of times from 1971 through 1977). The cartoon features two emaciated Black children reaching out for bread and milk that sit atop a tall table (fig. 23). Missiles, emblazoned with the acronym USA, stand out as the table’s legs that keep a tabletop towering over the children. The image is emblematic of the imbrication of a culture of poverty and a war culture. It captures the idea that everyday life was sustained by the right of military might, that even if war was provisionally swept out of public view it still propped up the table, and that various forms of political force determined access not only to basic needs but also to democratic principles—the very stuff of a free and equal existence. In addition, the cartoon channels the popular antiwar sentiment of bombing for peace, an almost laughable notion positing that the same practices and policies that were put in place to support the national interest were the very things that could also destroy it. This went for the Vietnam War. It went for segregationist and prejudiced ideals in government programs, too. And it impacted both foreign children and Americans.

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