Political Cartoons During World War One

Political cartoons could be defined as illustrations or cartoon strips that contain a social and/or political message in them. Political cartoons are often based on the current events around when they were written.

A great change came during WW1 and WW2. War images were not the only way war was portrayed, but motion pictures also came along. The motion pictures gave a whole new perspective on war to the American people. Thus, by seeing this influence, many powerful leaders saw an advantage. They saw, “the tremendous potential of movies for propaganda and

Originating in the 19th century, political cartoons are created and drawn as a means to deliver a message. Whether it be about politics, events or social concerns, the artist is able to express themselves creatively. The cartoons are not only meant to express the view of the creator, but are also open to interpretation. Most political cartoons have a biased point of view and uses rhetoric to persuade its audience.

They use their artistic skills as an aid to convey messages to people of all ages. Political cartoons appear all over the internet and social media. The cartoonists usually distort several of the characters’ physical features in order to emphasize a belief or criticize an idea in the society. A recent political cartoon depicts Donald Trump with a long nose. The cartoonist tried to influence the viewers into believing that Donald Trump is a liar, and he does not fit to be president. It might seem that the cartoonist drew the cartoon just to make the viewers laugh, but his goal was actually to present the reasons why US citizens should not vote for Trump. This drawing might not immediately cause the viewers to alter their attitude towards Trump, but the drawing will appear in the viewer's’ mind whenever the presidential election is mentioned. Sometimes, the cartoon might even influence the viewer to vote for Clinton instead of Donald Trump. The more entertaining a cartoon appear, the faster the picture will spread throughout social media and the internet. This will allow the cartoonist to spread his ideas to a greater amount of

Political cartoons are an illustrative technique that political cartoonist use to display a message to the viewers about government, world affairs, and politics. In 1754, publishers of the Pennsylvania Gazette published the first political cartoon illustrated by Benjamin Franklin (West, par. 1). Benjamin Franklin used his first political cartoon, titled Join or Die, to gain support from the colonies for the Crown’s war against the French (West, par. 1). Since the 1700s, illustrators use political cartoons as a medium to display political messages to its viewers (West, par. 1). On March 10, 2015, publishers of the Columbia Daily Tribune published a political cartoon, illustrated by John Darkow, titled Hillary Has A Primary Opponent (Darkow,

The political cartoons of the 1800s reflected the feelings of many laborers of the time. The American Revolution began in the early 1800s and continued through much of the 19th century. The low wages and high fees of being a laborer, added to the long hours many worked, made people desperate to find a better way of life. Despite their need for a better life, many laborers had little skill or ability to anything else. As the cartoon shows they are being crushed between their high rent that they are required to pay and the low wages being driven by the new monopolies and corporations of the time. Eventually riots broke out in the cities as the workers got more and more desperate to push for an increase in wages.

You’ll encounter ads everywhere you go, on television, social media, billboards, newspapers, movies, posters all with a common goal such as to manipulate and change the publics point of view. Most of us pay little attention to them so we believe ads have little to no effect on how we think or how we make our decisions. However, they do affect us, good or bad. Just like this cartoon drawing “Waiting for The Signal From Home” drawn by Theodor Seuss Geisel knew now as Dr. Seuss, famous for writing children’s books. This 1942 World War II cartoon depicts Japanese Americans living on the West Coast as guilty for having helped convict the treacherous act of the bombardment of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. As well as this image depicts Japanese Americans as untrustworthy forcing Japanese Americans to be relocated and interned after.

During the 1920’s a series of events were set into motion that plunged America into one of the worst time of its existence come 1929 and later the Great Depression. Through the challenges America faced, it arose to become the world’s strongest leading economical and political superpower. As the country began to emerge stronger than ever, leaders arose to the occasion and aided its progression as a world power. One such leader was be Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Due to his actions, the memory of him was preserved in the form of political cartoons for individuals to view and come to the conclusion that despite some ill feelings toward the man, he was a man of noble character who aided America in achieving greatness.

The house of representatives makes and passes federal laws. They are one of two chambers that creates the U.S legislative branch. The house may even be referred to as “the people house” because it’s representative’s are viewed and based upon the population or amount of people in each state. In this political cartoon, there are two sides one side is labeled “the people's house” which is the outside view of the Capitol building, while the other side shows citizens inside the Capitol building scared. The Capitol building holds meeting's and debates with the electives, however, the scared citizens show a negative connotation because they are not providing respect to the building and what's surrounding them. The ironic part of this cartoon is

The political cartoon first shown above presents a military general painting on a fence writing “Truth About Vietnam”. What this political cartoon is trying to tell the reader is that the during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Government had tried to cover up the real reason of them interfering in the war. As the picture shows, the military general is covering up the truth behind the Vietnam. The second cartoon shows an American soldier, slipping over trucks and a wagon saying “General’s Coup” and “Government Upsets”. This meaning that coming from an American soldier's POV, this is causing military disruption and hurting the U.S. Army. These political cartoons were effective in their own way because they set off a negative tone on the U.S. entering

Two political cartoon images that will be analyzed include a pro imperialism depiction, “Uncle Sam’s New Class in the Art of Self-Government”, from (Harper’s Weekly, 1898) and an anti-imperialism depiction, “Fun for the Boys”, from (Life, 1900) that both demonstrated this debate. While many Americans denounced the act of imperialism, many others advocated it. The focal point of these images was to capture viewers’ attention in which the artist’s main objective was to get viewers to agree with their outlook of imperialism.

Propaganda was commonly used during World War One in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, as means of persuasion through bandwagon propaganda, to ration food, convince people to join the army, make victory gardens, or to exploit mistakes made by the enemy. Even before World War One, governments have used propaganda to gain support among its citizens towards wars, and World War One was no different. The United Kingdom especially, utilized extravagant headlines that emphasized the other side as being barbaric and irrational. Regardless of these micro differences, all countries used propaganda to represent a portrait of military superiority. Other United States propaganda encouraged men to join

Indeed, in an era where news of all kinds is only a click away, it seems odd that the simple cartoon could once have been the most influential form of media in the nation. However, one must realize that the target audience of these cartoons were illiterate immigrants and the impoverished masses; before exposure to Nast’s cartoons, they had no way to know that their beloved Tweed was corrupting politics at all. In addition,these comics were published at a time when the United States had the highest newspaper circulation per capita in the world; everyone had access to these cartoons (Leepson 54). Therefore, Nast could use his illustrations to turn politics into a tangible, understandable topic for the American masses; in doing this, Nast paved the way for future illustrators and journalists, such as Homer Davenport, who went on to caricaturize corruption just as his predecessor had (Wang,

Cartoons have been a prominent and interesting apparatus for politics throughout the ages. Political movements, parties, and groups using propaganda to further their beliefs dates back to the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Though America faces an austere history, lighthearted propaganda colors its decades and gives them life. Political cartoons are so widely used in America that they have become a significant piece of pop culture. Moreover, because of their ability to capture the reader’s attention, propaganda is exploited throughout politics.The cartoons are wonders of the human imagination; illustrators create comical images and intertwine profound political opinions to influence their viewer’s mind. For example, one movement that abundantly grew from propaganda was the women’s rights movement. The artists of the seemingly despised cause drew controversial cartoons that set a fire in the hearts of women all over the world. Consequently, the same cartoons ignited a passionate war between women who wanted freedom, and those who believed that women could not handle that freedom. Through the use of colorful concepts and daring expressions, political cartoons display the influence of the women’s rights movement throughout history, while the cartoons of Anti-Feminists demonstrates the world’s reaction to the movement.

Unfortunately, the decade also brought in yet another war. This time it was the European war against Nazi Germany and defense against the Japanese siege into the pacific. In order to obtain a better understanding of the transpiring events the public turned to various media outlets such as cinemas and magazines. Propaganda posters and action sequences painted by illustrators Stevan Dohanos, Dean Cornwell and Saul Tepper helped reap in support for the war. While other illustrators were physically called onto the field of battle so that they could illustrate the actual events as they occurred. (www.illustrationhistory.org)