Walt Kelly - Pogo Daily - P.T. Bridgeport & Eugene McCarthy - 08.03.1968

Beautiful original Pogo Daily from the 1968 presidential campaign featuring Pogo and P.T. Bridgeport. This is from the memorable sequence when P.T.Bridgeport presents the political candidates (amongst these also Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey) as wind-up figures. This particularly daily depicts Eugene McCarthy as a Don Quixote-like figure along with P.T. Bridgeport and Pogo. This strip was also published in the “Cartoons For McCarthy” booklet and was donated by Walt Kelly (please see the inscription) to the McCarthy campaign as part of a fundraising effort led by Jules Feiffer. First published March 8th 1968...


A little something on Eugene McCarthy (Wikipedia):
Born in Watkins, Minnesota, McCarthy became an economics professor after earning a graduate degree from the University of Minnesota. McCarthy became a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (the state affiliate of the Democratic Party) and in 1948 was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until being elected to the Senate in 1958. McCarthy was a prominent supporter of Adlai Stevenson II for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960 and was himself a candidate for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination in 1964. He co-sponsored the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, though he later expressed regret about its impact and became a member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
As the 1960s progressed, McCarthy emerged as a prominent opponent of Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. After Robert F. Kennedy declined the request of a group of antiwar Democrats to challenge Johnson in the 1968 Democratic primaries, McCarthy entered the race on an antiwar platform. Though he was initially given little chance of winning, the Tet Offensive galvanized opposition to the war and McCarthy finished in a strong second place in the New Hampshire primary. After that, Kennedy entered the race and Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection. McCarthy and Kennedy each won several primaries before Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968. The 1968 Democratic National Convention nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Johnson's preferred candidate.