During
the 1960s, America's space race with the Soviet Union vied for media attention
with the Vietnam War. Herb Block was increasingly concerned with President
Lyndon Baines Johnson's policy on the conflict and American military escalation
despite denials by administration officials. Grim televised coverage from
the front helped turn American opinion against the conflict. Herb Block
later recalled, "In this country, there were just too many lights
at the end of too many tunnels, and too many predictions of victory."
During this period, Herb Block took on numerous controversial domestic
issues as well, among them gun control, urban decay, race riots, and tobacco
smoking.
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The other ascent into the unknown
During the presidential campaign of 1964, President Lyndon Johnson
suggested that Republican candidate Barry Goldwater could not to
be trusted to keep the U.S. out of war. But not long after his election,
Johnson increased American involvement in the Vietnam war and moved
ultimately to take over the war itself. In the same week that NASA
sent the Gemini 4 space capsule into orbit, setting new records
for a two-man flight, the State Department announced that Johnson
had authorized a potential role for direct American military involvement
in Vietnam if requested by the South Vietnamese authorities. Herb
Block was prescient in his view that this constituted a major step
in the involvement of U.S. forces in Indochina.
The other ascent
into the unknown, June 10, 1965 Ink, graphite, and opaque
white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper
Published in the Washington Post (61)
LC-USZ62-127068
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"Our position hasn't changed at all"
After the State Department announced the possibility of a direct
American combat role in Vietnam, the White House issued "clarifications,"
insisting that there had been no change in policy. On June 16, 1965,
the Defense Department announced that 21,000 additional soldiers
including 8,000 combat troops would go to Vietnam, bringing the
total U.S. presence to more than 70,000 men. President Lyndon Johnson
continued to obscure the extent of American involvement, contributing
to a widespread perception of political untrustworthiness. The Gulf
of Tonkin Resolution, based on a never-verified report of an attempted
attack on an American ship, passed the Senate with only two dissenting
votes, and gave Johnson all the authority he felt he needed to proceed
with the escalation.
"Our position
hasn't changed at all," June 17, 1965 Ink, graphite,
and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered paper
Published in the Washington Post (62)
LC-USZ62-127071
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"It says here Congress is anxious to get out of town"
Since his move to Washington, D.C., in 1946, Herb Block has been
an impassioned advocate for the social, political, and economic
welfare of the city's inhabitants. In early October 1966 members
of Congress openly expressed their desire to end the current session
and leave Washington to campaign for re-election in November. This
cartoon depicts the poor who were unable to escape the dismal living
conditions found in many of the city's neighborhoods.
"It says here
Congress is anxious to get out of town,"
October 12, 1966
Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered
paper
Published in the Washington Post (64)
LC-USZ62-127091
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Fiddler
In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson hailed the "good life" in the
United States, as living conditions for many Americans reached high
levels. However, inner city residents, especially blacks experiencing
poverty and racial injustice, felt no share in it. During the summer
of 1967, protests and riots broke out in several American cities,
including Buffalo, Newark, Detroit, as well as many other cities
across the United States. In response, the House passed a bill that
made it a federal crime to cross state lines to incite a riot. This
cartoon portrays Congress in the role of Nero, fiddling while U.S.
cities burn.
Fiddler,
July 25, 1967
Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered
paper
Published in the Washington Post (65)
LC-USZ62-127090
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For long-lasting deep-down comfort smoke Carcinos, with the special
filter made from a rabbit's foot
Herb Block has foreseen some issues, including the anti-smoking
campaign that had barely begun in the United States in 1967, but
in which he was personally involved. In 1959, he suffered a heart
attack and after six weeks in the hospital, quit what had been a
multi-pack-a-day habit. In his 1993 memoirs, Herblock: A Cartoonist's
Life, he wrote: "For quite a while I resisted doing cartoons
on the subject, not wanting to be a reformed smoker calling on others
to conform. But with the health hazards increasingly obvious and
tobacco companies showing a callous irresponsibility, it was clearly
an issue worth working on."
For long-lasting
deep-down comfort smoke Carcinos, with the special filter made from
a rabbit's foot, September 3, 1967
Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered
paper
Published in the Washington Post (66)
LC-USZ62-127081
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"It's like the gun lobby guys say -- Laws interfere wit' us sportsmen"
Gun control became a hot issue when President John F. Kennedy
was gunned down in 1963 by a man using a mail-order rifle. In the
ensuing demand for legislation to curb gun sales, the National Rifle
Association, under the guise of protecting the rights of legitimate
hunters, opposed all efforts to prevent government regulation of
firearms.
"It's like the
gun lobby guys say--Laws interfere wit' us sportsmen,"
June 6, 1965
Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered
paper
Published in the Washington Post (60)
LC-USZ62-127092
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"We'll let the overcoat out all the way, and the robe will hardly
show at all"
Governor George Wallace of Alabama had achieved national notoriety
when he defied federal orders to integrate the University of Alabama
in 1963, and he continued to fan the fires of racial intolerance.
In 1968, he tried to capitalize on continuing resentment over civil
rights measures beyond the South by running for president on a third
party ticket. In November, he received the electoral votes of only
five Southern states.
"We'll let the
overcoat out all the way, and the robe will hardly show at all,"
February 11, 1968
Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered
paper
Published in the Washington Post (67)
LC-USZ62-127082
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"She might have invaded Russia"
In January 1968, moderate communists came to power in Czechoslovakia,
inaugurating a period of increasing democratization known as the
"Prague Spring." The Soviet Union became increasingly concerned
that the Czech experiment might spread to other countries in the
Soviet Bloc. During the night of August 20-21, Soviet troops, joined
by the forces of satellite countries, occupied the country by force.
"She might have
invaded Russia,"
September 3, 1968
Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered
paper
Published in the Washington Post (68)
LC-USZ62-127086
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"You see, the reason we're in Indochina is to protect us boys
in Indochina"
Despite Richard Nixon's election campaign promises to end the
Vietnam War, each new step widened rather than reduced American
involvement.
"You see, the
reason we're in Indochina is to
protect us boys in Indochina," May 5, 1970
Ink, graphite, and opaque white over graphite underdrawing on layered
paper
Published in the Washington Post (70)
LC-USZ62-126931
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