1945.10.21 “Daddy!”
by Ralph Lee (1906-1947)
14.9 x 23.3 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
Ralph Lee was an editorial cartoonist for the Portland Oregonian. He died suddenly, at 41, in January 1947. His cousin, Art Bimrose, was the editorial cartoonist for the Oregonian for more than three decades. In 1937, the Oregonian hired him part-time to work on printing plates. Following Lee’s death, Bimrose was hired as the Sunday editorial cartoonist.
Draft calls were still happening after V-J Day, and fathers were being deferred now that the war was ending. The Selective Service draft machinery was still in operation through much of September–October 1945 as part of the transition back to peacetime.
New policies and classifications were being applied to reduce the number of draftees and to favor discharge and deferment of men with dependents. One prominent mechanism in demobilization was the Adjusted Service Rating Score (“point system”), under which dependents, especially children, enhanced a soldier’s eligibility for discharge or deferment. By late 1945 this was widely reported as a key factor determining who got released from service quickly and who might still be liable for new draft calls.
