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Recently podcaster Josh and Chuck discussed artist Harald Damsleth's political cartoon highlighting the "hypocrisies of America” during the April 10 episode of their STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW podcast. The episode is called Editorial Cartoons: Art as Satire.
Talking about the political cartoons, Josh further mentioned a Norwegian Nazi cartoonist named Harald Damsleth. In 1944, Harald Domslash drew a political cartoon. One part of the text in the cartoon reads, “The USA shall save European culture from destruction." The other asks, "With what right?”
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Talking about Harald Damsleth, he then continued:
“And it's a picture… sort of pointing out all the hypocrisies of America… Like, you know, this big winged sort of multi-armed multi-leg beast made out of a drum and has a Klansman head and holding a money bag. And there's a noose hanging off…”
He further added:
“It's just crazy looking. It looks like something like Pink Floyd would have used on an album cover…”
Josh and Chuck talk about Harald Damsleth during their podcast
In the STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW podcast episode about political cartoons, Josh briefly explained political cartoons, saying:
“Yeah, this is about editorial cartoons, aka political cartoons. They are one and the same. They usually appear traditionally in the editorial section or the opinion section of newspapers.”
He then continued:
“So that's why you can call them either. And this is a profession that appears to be dying out if you look at the number of editorial cartoonists that are like full-time staff at major newspapers. Because there used to be more than 2,000 about a hundred years ago.”
The hosts then discussed a little bit about Harald Damsleth. For context, "Liberators" is the title of Harald Damsleth's artwork that Josh was referring to, according to the First Amendment Museum. The goal of the poster was to depict to viewers the chaos and gory misery that America's "liberation" was bringing to Europe.
In Harald Damsleth’s picture, one can see a man wearing the amusing Bioshock-style headdress and carrying a sign that reads, "The USA shall save European culture from destruction," down at the bottom, amidst the ruins of European civilization.
Then, talking more about some particular cartoonists they like, Chuck said that there was a black cartoonist named Jay Jackson who drew for the Chicago Defender, which is a black newspaper. Chuck brought up Jackson's cartoon for the newspaper, "The Blind Leading the Blind." The cartoon, which was published in 1945, depicts a figure representing America leading another representing Germany during World War II. Both figures in the cartoon are wearing spectacles with dark lenses that say "race hate."
He then said:
“It's one of the better political cartoons I've ever seen.”
African-American artist Jay Paul Jackson worked for the Chicago Defender for many years. Additionally, he illustrated for science fiction publications like Fantastic Adventures and Amazing Stories. Jackson was assigned to the Defender's cartoons in 1934.
Meanwhile, piling up on Chuck’s lists of cartoonists, Josh then added:
“So I think we should talk about a guy named Herblock, or Herblock was his pen name, cartoon name. And he's considered probably the most important political cartoonist of the entire 20th century. He's got.. an additional Pulitzer for public service... for excoriating Nixon over the Watergate scandal.”
He continued:
“Imagine if you're a political cartoonist during Watergate, you're kind of licking your chops a bit… He was really around during a fraught time politically… Just Block alone drew more than 100 cartoons about Watergate between 72 and 74..”
For context, Herbert L. Block, often known as Herblock, was one of the most significant political analysts and editorial cartoonists in American history. Newspapers started publishing his extensive chronicle of significant social and political events in 1929, and he continued to record both domestic and foreign events for 72 years.
All of the STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW podcast's episodes are available on YouTube on their channel.
