1941.11.26 “Good Neighbor Comes Visiting”
by Ralph Lee (1906-1947)
15 x 23 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.
In 1933, FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy was established to increase cooperation with Central and South America.
The Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace (often called the Rio Conference) took place in Rio de Janeiro, November 25–28, 1941. Brazil was the host nation and one of the key participants. A year into the war (and just days before Pearl Harbor), the purpose was to coordinate defense and security policies in light of the European war and growing threats. The US appears ready to police these agreements and intervene.
French Guiana was still under Vichy French control and was considered a potential weak point where Axis subversion or naval operations might occur. US attention was turning to securing it as part of continental defense in the face of suspicious Axis activities in the Caribbean and South American Atlantic coast
The Rio Conference produced a joint declaration (on November 27) condemning external interference and affirming mutual defense.
