Image used to critique the overly optimistic rhetoric from the George H.W. Bush administration regarding a dying economy
During the civil war (1861-1865), illustrated mailing envelopes "patriotic covers" were used to show support for the Union cause.
This image shows a sleeping Miss Columbia (an early female personification of the US) representing a peaceful union. The Girl on the right represents the seceding southern states (Confederacy) ripping the American flag in half. She is being chastised by the girl on the left (Union) who tells her misbehaving sister "You'll catch it when mother wakes up!" Warning the Confederacy, the south will face severe consequences for threats of secession.
Image that shows Uncle Sam (representing the US) and John Bull (representing the UK) sharing an embrace, signaling an era of reconciliation (Often referred to as the "Great Rapprochement").
The PBC was an educational organization that used the 1976 Bicentennial to promote social and economic change.
Image that shows Uncle Sam being stabbed in the back by homegrown Nazi sympathizers. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the US faced hidden networks of axis sympathizers - "Fifth Column" were covert factions designed to sabotage or overthrow the country from within.
Image by Austrian cartoonist, Bernd Stoiber, that critiques the indefinite detentions and lack of constitutional protections at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
When the camp opened, the Bush administration argued that foreign detainees held outside US soil were not eligible for the writ of habeas corpus- a constitutional right that allows prisoners to challenge unlawful imprisonment before a judge.
1969 Cartoon by Artist Bill Mauldin that responds directly to the domestic fractures over the Vietnam war. During this era, the Nixon administration and conservative factions heavily pushed a "my country, right or wrong" narrative, often labeling anti-war protestors, civil rights activists and critics of the state as un-American or disloyal.
The artist is suggesting that blind nationalism inevitable leads to authoritarian control and loss of individual freedom. Dissent and critique are vital components of a healthy democracy.
Image drawn in response to EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman announced a regulatory overhaul of the Clean Air Act (2002). Under the original act, if heavily polluting plants underwent expansions they were legally required to install modern pollution-control technology. The revision allowed the factories to make modifications under the guise of "routine maintenance."
The "under new management" sign points to the shift from the Clinton administration (which had been aggressively suing major power companies for rule violations) to the Bush administration, which chose to ease regulations on these sectors.
Satirical image by Clay Bennett that show one man "security" standing on another "liberty" to put up the Gadsden flag.
The Gadsden flag was created in 1775 as a warning to Great Britain to stop violating the liberties of American subjects. In 2006, the government was heavily expanding electronic surveillance and extending provisions of the patriot act, acting in direct opposition to the flags original intention. The artist is reminding the public that true patriotism means protecting civil liberties, not blindly supporting state authority or giving up freedoms in exchange for safety.
Drawn by Saul Steinberg, a young Jewish refugee who had recently fled Fascist Europe for America. Shortly after drawing this, he was commissioned by the US Naval Reserve OSS Morale Operations division. His anti-Nazi cartoons were packed into allied propaganda materials and dropped behind enemy lines.
The OSS recognized that the most effective way to fight Nazi propaganda was not to argue, but to de-mythologize it. This allied strategy of weaponized ridicule was designed to strip the dictator of his terrifying mystique and portray him as a petty, incompetent doodler trapped by his own symbols.
1976 image that was inspired by the Wayne Hays-Elizabeth Ray sex scandal. After an expose was released on Ohio Congressman, Wayne Hays, a staffer name Elizabeth Ray confessed that she was being paid by the House Administration Committee solely to serve as Hay's mistress. Because Hays used a congressional committee to put his mistress on the federal payroll, the scandal was viewed as systematic corruption which further eroded public trust in the post-Watergate political landscape. Hays resigned from his seat in Congress later that year.
Black History Month, Moment 371, Earl shares a story from back in the day when crooked Southern politicians denied black voters their right to vote "...And that's why Grandma and I don't live in Florida anymore."
A comment on the 2000 US Presidential Election in Florida when the voting process faced scrutiny for the disenfranchisement of thousands of black voters. Issues included an inaccurate criminal history purge, scrubbed registration rolls and faulty voting machinery.
The cartoon addresses the unequal political justice regarding the fallout from Watergate. Nixon's top political aides took the fall and served in federal prison. Because Nixon was granted a full pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford, he was allowed to retire comfortably on his estate.
Image that was drawn after the June 1985 Supreme Court ruling (Wallace V. Jaffree). In that decision, the court stuck down an Alabama law that authorized a moment of silence for prayer. They ruled that it violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause because it had an explicitly religious purpose.
Image inspired by the 2005 energy crisis, where retail gas prices spike to unprecedented levels and severely strained household budgets. The crisis was caused by booming demand, political unrest in oil producing nations, and damaged oil platforms during Hurricane Katrina.
Image by Ann Telnaes showing a little girl writing her "what I did this summer" essay. This cartoon was created in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which ended the constitutional right to abortion. It critiques the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the subsequent implementation of state-level abortion bans by Republican lawmakers.
Cartoon that critiques the influence of the pro-Israel lobby on the 2004 United States presidential election. The image argues that both presidential candidates (John Kerry & George W. Bush) were equally dependent on the financial and political support of the Israel lobby despite being in opposing political parties.