7 Cartoons from the Great Depression
The more things change… Meet the new boss? Bah, I’m lousy at writing catchy headlines. Bottom line: 80 years ago Americans were dealing with corrupt bailouts and rampant cronyism, just like we are today. In a way, the cartoons below, from 1929-1932, convey this more clearly than charts or old news clips ever could.
This first editorial piece, Recovery Package by John Baer, is from 1931. Interestingly enough, Mr. Baer is the man credited with coining the term “New Deal”:
Billions of Deficit, Billions of Government Spending, by Herbert Johnson:
A Normal Stock Market, Just What He Wanted. Wish denied. This cartoon is from 1929. Artist: William Kemp Starrett, appeared in Life Magazine:
Gosh Joe, There Ain’t No Justice! By Ralph Fuller, Feb 1931:
The Trojan Horse at Our Gate, by Carey Orr. Good example of early New Deal criticism:
Come away Junior, while Daddy enjoys his business slump:
With this depression on, Maria, I s’pose we ought to go out tonight and consume something.
Update: Check out part 2 of cartoons from the great depression.
More toons and sources:
Updated 8/11/2009 – Formatting and clarification.
10 Comments
the Trojan horse one is very clever!
and really spells it out
Saw your link on “Ask Fleck.” I’ve now referenced your post, and added a link to your site on my own blog. Great work here. I couldn’t resist reproducing 3 of the cartoons, but I certainly intend that my readers will visit your site for the original post….
[...] 2) From the Great Depression and FDR’s New Deal, here are some historic caricatures. More time changes and more society will blame government spending and big business for all their woes. (Link) [...]
[...] first post featuring Cartoons from the Depression got a good response. I’ve been digging around for more, and here’s what I [...]
this is gay
love the examples
this is so boring
nice
“…Often acerbic, sometimes vicious, always exuberant in denunciation, the political cartoonists’ interpretation of the New Deal’s achievements and failures registered the frustrations of the conservative bastion of newspaper publishing in an era characterized by government activism and social reform. “Never had cartoonists and public opinion been on such separate tracks,” [Stephen] Hess and [Milton] Kaplan concluded, “and never had each so little effect on the other.” –http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/?p=16
The relevance is still amazing!