Walt Kelly Democratic Presidential Nomination Editorial Cartoon Life Magazine 1955
Artist: Walt Kelly (All)
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DescriptionAbsolutely stunning and huge (56,5cm x 69cm!!!) inked illustration by the one and only Walt Kelly. Kelly is mostly known for his most famous creation, Pogo, but was also a quite prolific political cartoonist. While he tackled political topics with Pogo, he could bring it to full swing with his editorial cartoons...only very few of these still exist today...This magnificent example, which was published in Life magazine November 28th 1955, highlights the democratic presidential nomination race for the 1956 presidential election. Adlai Stevenson (in the dragon costume on the castle - he had already been the democratic candidate in the 1952 presidential campaign) and Estes Kefauver (on the war-horse) were the main protagonists, with Stevenson winning 7 and Kefauver 9 of the primaries and Stevenson finally being elected the Democratic presidential nominee. He ultimately lost the presidential election (as in 1952) to Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th President of the US)... Update 25./28.03: CAF is really a fantastic place where so many friendly and helpful people come together !!! Thanks Jeff & Thomas for bringing a little more light into this... :-)) << The man in the lower left pulling the donkey's tail, is Hubert H Humphrey, a Democratic senator who sought the presidency for years, not only in the 50s, but in the 60s, as well; I don't know why he is wearing springs on his shoes, except maybe to signify his bouncy personality. Humphrey is holding onto the donkey tail, still a symbol for the Democratic Party. I don't know who the guy on the donkey is. He's holding an old-style ink pen, which we are repeatedly told is "mightier than the sword," so he may be writer, but who? Also, all those eggs running around and picnicking are a mystery to me. It's a puzzle to figure out what meaning to attach to things like like the barefoot man riding the tiger. Kefauver, as you mention, on the war horse, was from Tennessee; he's wearing a coonskin hat (referring to Davy Crockett who was from Tennessee. I don't know if you would have heard much about Davy Crockett. In the mid-Fifties, there was a highly successful TV program about Davy Crockett, which led to a hugely popular song and sparked a huge market for boys to wear coonskin hats and Davy Crockett style clothes) and a backwoods long hunting rifle also associated with people from Tennessee and some other Southern states. The group of black hatted men in the upper right represent Democrats from the South (called Dixiecrats) who resisted (for a long time) the advancement of civil rights. The flag associated with them is the Confederacy battle flag from the US Civil War, the one that nowadays is associated with hate groups, nazis and so on. You can see the rickety bridge labeled civil rights with kegs of dynamite under it and the detonator in the hands of one of the black-hatted men. The black hats, by the way, look like the kind of hats associated with old Southern gentlemen, as do the mustaches, but also carry the connotation of "bad guys," as in the westerns where the good guy wore white and the evil doers wore black hats. The man at the nostrum booth in the lower right is Harry Truman, who was a Democratic president from 1945 to 1953. He appears to be selling things that might help a Democratic candidate, but they look like snake oil (snake oil refers to fake medicinal items that don't live up to their hype). The man up slope from the tiger may be John Kennedy, a young senator at that time. The polo mallet that he is holding would signify someone who came from great wealth (enough money and time to afford playing polo). He was elected president in 1960, and was seen as a rising star in the 50s. >> Update 07.04.21: This was reprinted on the pages of the Walt Kelly fanzines “The Okefenokee Star” Vol.1 No.1 (Spring 1977) and “The Fort Mudge Most” #48 (Nov 1995)... Social/Sharing |
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Davide G.
Member Since 2009
Posted on 3/24/2019
I just wonder where you find these incredible pieces... Fun-tastic! :)
Thomas Ward
Member Since 2004
Posted on 3/24/2019
Wonderful piece of history! I wonder if the man behind the horse is Hubert Humphrey? The guy selling stuff is former president Harry Truman
Thomas Ward
Member Since 2004
Posted on 4/12/2019
Great update Monty, you really did some great research on this piece!!!
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