The Great Depression in Cartoons, Part 10:
A New Administration in Washington

Posted on Sunday, March 15, 2009, at 1:07 pm, by Cadwalader Crabtree.

Franklin Roosevelt’s landslide victory over Herbert Hoover in November 1932 and his inauguration to the presidency in March 1933 both passed unremarked in Life’s cartoons, while commentary on the Great Depression itself remained at the same low level set in 1932. There is thus not much to choose from here, which is not to say the cartoons that were published are without interest.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Life tended from the beginning to ignore the agricultural depression, which was hard and deep. This cartoon by Harold Denison from March 1933 unfairly minimizes the plight of the rural sector.

This one by Adolph Schus, from July 1933, is similarly unsympathetic to the situation of dairymen, who were protesting prices that had fallen below the cost of production.

Judging from the style, the next cartoon (which also appeared in July) appears to be by Frederic G. Cooper, but the signature doesn’t look like his. In any case, the tone is reminiscent of Life’s cartoons from the early years of the Depression. Revolving windshield stickers like this were used to regulate automobile parking before the invention and introduction of coin-operated meters.

The New Deal was Roosevelt’s ambitious attempt to reorganize and revive the American economy. The National Industrial Recovery Act of June 1933, which created the National Recovery Administration (NRA), was one of its early components. As part of the publicity campaign surrounding the NRA, businesses all over the country posted “blue eagle” signs with the slogan “We do our part.” The ubiquity of these signs was an obvious target for cartoons like this one by Gregory d’Alessio, from September 1933.

The next two cartoons, by an artist whose signature I don’t recognize, are unabashedly pro-NRA. The first is from October 1933.

The second is from November. The title, of course, is a pun on the title of Ernest Hemingway’s novel Farewell to Arms (1929).

“Thanksgiving Day in Hooverville,” by Abner Dean, also from the November issue, includes an NRA eagle on the packing crate the two men are using as a table, while a picture of Roosevelt hangs on the wall. It reflects the sense of hope the new president brought to many Americans, even as they remained mired in poverty. “Hooverville” was a popular designation for the innumerable shanty towns homeless people had erected around the country.

Finally, this cartoon by Albert Viale, from December 1933, gives a playful, holiday take on the NRA.

Next up: Sharply conflicting views of FDR.

Comments (closed):

Rob Stolzer wrote on April 22, 2009, at 7:36 am:

The two pieces by the artist whose signature you were unable to identify appear to be done by Clive Weed. The pieces certainly appear to be Weed’s style, and the signature would make sense.