Drawing Liberalism

Herblock's Political Cartoons in Postwar America

Simon Appleford

• Publisher: University of Virginia Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780813948881
• eBook ISBN: 9780813948898
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Drawing Liberalism is the first book-length critical examination of the political and social impact of the political cartoonist Herbert Block—popularly known as Herblock. Working for the Washington Post, Herblock played a central role in shaping, propagandizing, and defending the ideals of postwar liberalism, a normative set of values and assumptions that dominated American politics and culture after World War II.

Best remembered for his unrelenting opposition to and skewering cartoons of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon, Herblock introduced the term "McCarthyism" into the American political lexicon. With its unstinting and unapologetic support for the liberal agenda, across a career spanning over fifty years at the Post, Herblock's work affords a unique lens through which to interpret and understand the shifts and contours of twentieth-century American political culture, from the postwar period through the civil rights era into the Nixon presidency.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 | “An Uninhibited Voice of Liberalism”: Becoming Herblock
• 2 | “The Fear-and-Smear Racketeers”: Protecting Democracy
• 3 | “The Major Moral Issue of Our Time”: Standing for Civil Rights
• 4 | “Nothing More Than Inflammatory Propaganda”: Denouncing the New Right
• 5 | “I’m Afraid to Look”: Defending Liberalism from the Left
• 6 | “That Son-of-a-Bitch Herblock”: Taking on Nixon
• Epilogue: “A Watchman in the Night”
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index