1915.10.01 “Not Interested”
by Robert William (Bob) Satterfield (1976-1958)
14x17 in, ink on board
Coppola Collection
Robert "Bob" Satterfield, born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, entered the creamery business and developed his artistic work in idle moments. His cartooning career began when he sold a cartoon to Robert F. Paine, editor of The Press in Cleveland in the 1890's.
He became a political cartoonist with the Binghamton Sun, Cleveland Press, Cleveland News, Sandusky Register, and Kansas City World.
Inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt's passion for hunting and the subsequent introduction of the Teddy Bear, he created his cartoon panel Sat's Bear, which, beginning in 1910, was a feature of Cleveland's daily life.
He did not date this cartoon, but there are lots of potential clues. There is a battle going on in Europe and the US citizen is expressing disinterest. So, we are between the start of WW1 (June 1914) and the US entry (April 1917).
The commentary on isolationism, a question about fighting still going on in Europe, and the hay/pumpkin/potato harvest after the county fair… and I put this at early October 1915 or 1916. I am going with 1915 here because the off-handed general ignorance by late 1916 makes less sense, and more people were starting to pay attention to the war after the May 1915 sinking of the Lusitania.
In the 1916 Presidential election most American voters wanted to avoid involvement in the war and preferred to continue a policy of neutrality. Wilson's campaign used the popular slogans "He kept us out of war" and "America First" to appeal to those voters who wanted to avoid a war in Europe or with Mexico. In early 1917, a series of events finally drew the U.S. into the war.
