1939.08.25 “Echo Mountain”
by John Milton (Milt) Morris (1906-1994)
16 x 14 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
Morris’s cartoons were syndicated by the Associated Press from 1931 until 1987. During his long career as a political cartoonist, Morris also found the time to work on comics, for instance the Christmas-themed comic 'Christmas with Dot and Dick' (1935). Between 1938 and 1955, he was the second and final artist to draw the slice-of-life comic 'Neighborly Neighbors', while he was also the 10th and last artist to continue the newspaper aviation comic 'Scorchy Smith' (1959-1961).
During the Great Depression, Morris decided to move to the epicenter of the US newspaper industry, New York City, in the hope of finding a stable financial vocation. After five months, he was down to 45 dollars, not even enough to take a trip back home. Morris's long editorial career took off in 1931 when he was hired by the New York Journal American. In 1935, he joined the Associated Press, allowing his cartoons to be syndicated to over 125 daily newspapers until his retirement in 1987. It is estimated that he had drawn over 14,000 one-panel cartoons during his career.
Before Ribbentrop had even arrived in Moscow to sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact, the British were already reacting to news of the agreement which had leaked out. Chamberlain sent the Fuhrer a personal letter warning him that if the Nazis invaded Poland, the British would "employ without delay all the forces at their command, and it is impossible to foresee the end of hostilities once engaged..."
The letter was delivered to Hitler at Berchtesgaden on August 23rd, which sent Hitler into one of his classic fits of rage. Up to this point, Hitler had been assuring his generals that Britain and France would not go to war over Poland. "The men I got to know at Munich are not the kind to start a new world war," Hitler boasted during a military conference at Berchtesgaden.
All during 1939, Hitler had been spending more and more of his time atop his Berchtesgaden mountain retreat trying to figure things out. Thus far in his career, he had been the master chess player on the European stage, humbling and outmaneuvering all of his opponents, always a step or two ahead of everyone.
Even FDR barged into the whole mess with a telegram to Hitler inquiring: "Are you willing to give assurance that your armed forces will not attack or invade the territory of the following independent nations…?"
Hitler gave his answer during a speech to the Reichstag and assured 'Herr Roosevelt' that Germany only had peaceful intentions toward its neighbors. Germany, Hitler declared, "had not thought of proceeding in any way against Poland."
The problem was that nobody outside Germany believed him anymore. The great problem for Hitler at this point in his career was that his own bloated ego was fogging up his formerly crystal-clear insight into international politics. He was succumbing to the belief that he was infallible, that if he said such-and-such a thing was true, then indeed it must be true. And there was nobody left in Germany willing to tell him he was wrong.
