The artist does not overtly express his opinion through
"To Six of the Nine" and yet the characters can be judge by their robes and appearances and
cartoons have direct quote as
"U.S. Supreme Court" or
"A Free and Independent Judiciary". This kind of cartoon captures the event but does not
include the idea of particular performances. In other words, the author does not intentionally attempt to deliver either a positive or negative message
In
"The Hands of Dictatorship !", three branches of United States government are labeled. The Chief executive, President Roosevelt, has
already made a hold of the legislative branch. The Congress is depicted as a feeble old man who is of minute size compared to the chief executive.
While the legislative branch remains helpless, the President is going after another "grasp", now toward the judicial branch. With clearly labeled names
and indications, this cartoon delivers a negative message regarding RooseveltĄ¯s court-packing plan. By not directly showing President Roosevelt in
person, the executive branch is shown more ominous and more threatening. The obviously negative title also adds to the author's intended criticism.
III.2 Metaphor and Allusion
What seems like a cartoon with simple message often turns out to include hidden metaphors and allusions. Metaphors can define and interpret key
actors or events and even contribute to political figures' image-making. It is also thought that the visual depictions presented by political cartoons give
metaphorical definitions a concreteness that affirms the 'reality' of their meaning.
Bostdoff explains how metaphor works as follows :
By labeling something that which it is not, metaphor makes use of perspective by incongruity; our perception of the object or person is altered by its
incongruous pairing with some other name. In this way, metaphor provides insight. (
Bostdorff, 48)
In his State of the Union Address, President Roosevelt asserted that the Supreme Court was "out of harmony" with other branches of the government
and the will of the people of the United States. The title of this cartoon,
"LetĄ¯s Harmonize !" therefore alludes to President Roosevelt's speech.
The cartoonist implies that the only reason for the legislative branch to be in harmony with the executive is because the President has a stranglehold of
the Congress.
IV. Reactions
At first, elected officials interviewed by the press showed their astonishment by the presidentĄ¯s court-packing plan but guarded in their reactions. The
initial reaction by the public was also difficult to measure since the people had no adequate means through which they could evaluate the president's
plan. The cartoon editorialists soon led the public opinion by focusing on the presidentĄ¯s chief complaint ? the fact that so many of the judges were old.
A number of cartoons, as shown as above, dealt with the presidentĄ¯s frustration toward rejection of his New Deal program and therefore emphasized his
immature political action.
The judicial reorganization plan soon sparked intense opposition and garnered up conservative New Deal foes. It is easy to tell by the cartoons that the
court-packing plan was not well received by most. The media nor the American public stayed silent long and thus used editorials, letters and other means
to Congress to show their complaints. An editorial response in Chicago Tribune delivered a quote,
"Shall the Supreme Court be turned into the personal
organ of the President ? If Congress answers yes, the principle of an impartial and independent judiciary will be lost in this country."
Senate Democrats supported this cause when the Congress passed so many of New Deal laws, leading to a split in the legislative branch. But just as
the opposition was at its peak, some unexpected events changed the course of this situation. In March, the Supreme Court upheld as constitutional both
the Wagner Act and the Social Security Act (two New Deal programs), and in May Justice Van Devanter, one of those who had opposed Roosevelt,
announced his retirement. The appearance of Court support for his policies and an opportunity for a Supreme Court appointment made Roosevelt's court
packing plan suddenly seem unnecessary.
V. Conclusion
While words help to convey the message, political cartooning is a visual art and the cartoonist strives to present often complex situations in a visual
form. In a socio-cultural level, political cartoons reveal assumptions and prejudices of the general public. They then knock into the previously concealed
collective consciousness and reaffirm cultural values of the people. Political cartoons therefore "maintain[ing] a sense of self, others, and society"
(
DeSousa & Medhurst, 90).
More specifically in politics and history, such cartoons can aid in defining the significant issues that are currently the topics of political discussions.
In the meantime, they can also leave a record of that discourse as a snapshot of the political climate at one particular period. Since political cartoons
both
"promote the symbols of the existing national consensus and reflect dominant images in the American imagination"
(
Edwards, 73), these images can function as historical and sociological artifacts. Edwards claims that:
"Cartoons reflect a record of events, visible through the imaginative weave of the cartoonistĄ¯s viewpointĄĻ political cartoons historicize the present
and form a collective record of the social imagination regarding the events in political life (
Edwards, 8)
While they may not significantly affect the power relationships in a given political culture, political cartoons do pay a crucial symbolic role in depicting
and maintaining them. Medhurst asserts that:
As a tool of quick and convenient expression, political cartoons have been a cornerstone of American democracy. By means of metaphors,
symbols, allegories, allusions, and many other stylistic techniques, political cartoons during the Roosevelt administration met its peak and its
coming of age. By various methods, President Roosevelt was captured as a "dictator" in the inkwells of cartoonists.
Since political cartoons can be used as a means through which editorialists illustrate the political social reality of the time and people can
view and interpret political history, the decoding process within social and historical context is crucial and even mandatory. From the
review and interpretation of political cartoons dealing with court-packing plan, readers can appreciate the importance of properly decoding
such illustrations.
Bibliography
Note : websites quoted below were visited in July 2009.
(1) Bostdorff, D. M. "Making light of James Watt: A Burkean approach
to the form and attitude of political cartoons." Quarterly Journal of Speech (1987): 48
(2) Edwards, J. L. Political cartoons in the 1988 presidential campaign:
Image, metaphor, and narrative. New York: Garland, 1997
(3) Hou, Carles and Cynthia Hou. The Art of Decoding Political Cartoons:
A Teacher's Guide. Vancouver: Moody's Lookout Press, 1998.
(4) Leuchtenburg, William. "Franklin D. Roosevelt's Supreme Court 'Packing' Plan."
Essays on the New Deal (1969): 69?115
(5) Leuchtenburg, William. "The Origins of Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'Court-Packing' Plan."
The Supreme Court Review (1966): 347?400
(6) Medhurst, M. J., & DeSousa, M. A. Political cartoons as rhetorical form:
A taxonomy of graphic discourse. Communication Monographs (1981): 85, 197-236.
(7) Website Abstraction. "Cartoons: FDR and the Supreme Court ."
New Deal Network. 5 July 2009
.
List of Images
(1) The Hands of Dictatorship ! Los Angeles Times 6 Feb. 1937. (figure 2)
(2) The Authentic History Center."
The Authentic History Center. 5 July 2009
. (figure 1, 7)
(3) He Just Aint Fast Enough. The New Deal Network 9 Feb. 1937. (figure 3)
(4) Trying to Change the Umpiring. Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 10 Feb 1937. (figure 4)
(5) Oh, So That's the Kind of Sailor He Is ! New York Herald-Tribune 22 March 1937. (figure 5)
(6) The Best He Can Hope For Now Chicago News 10 April 1937. (figure 6)
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