The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : "It's the Stupidest Tea Party"

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According to editorial cartoonist Herb Block, better known as Herblock, the stupidest tea party was when, in October 1999, presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan switched from the Republican Party to the Reform Party, creating divisiveness within the emerging third party as his political platform differed markedly from that of founder Ross Perot. In the meantime, real estate magnate Donald Trump had formally established his Reform Party candidacy. Trump was favored as the "Stop Buchanan" candidate, but in February 2000, he withdrew from the race. In August 2000, Patrick Buchanan accepted the presidential nomination from one wing of a decidedly split Reform Party. For Herb Block, the situation evoked one of Sir John Tenniel's famous illustrations for Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

'Said Alice . . . 'It's the Stupidest Tea-party I Ever Was at in All My Life'

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Who's the Fairest One of All?

This cartoon is from the exhibition "Herblock's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium". From 1929 until his death in 2001, Herbert Block skewered politicians (including 12 U.S. presidents -- from Herbert Hoover to Bill Clinton), the Supreme Court, local leaders and any one or any thing he felt needed changing.

The Prints and Photographs Reading Room is one of the nation's finest resources for the study of political cartooning. For example, the Caroline and Erwin Swann Collection of Caricature and Cartoon contains 2,085 drawings, prints and paintings related to the art of caricature, cartoon and illustration. The collection spans the years 1780 to 1977 and includes works by 521 American and foreign artists and illustrators. Most of the images are cartoons, comic strips and periodical illustrations drawn by American artists between 1890 and 1970.

Many of the Library's most popular exhibitions have been supported by the Swann Foundation, including "Herblock's History." You can access all of them at Swann Foundation home page.

A. Herbert Block, "Said Alice . . . 'It's the Stupidest Tea-party I Ever Was at in All My Life," Oct. 31, 1999. Published in the Washington Post. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction No.: LC-USZ62-126894

B. Herbert Block, "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Who's the Fairest One of All?" Jan. 2, 1960. Published in The Washington Post. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction No.: LC-USZ62-127079