Lesson learned

I learned political cartooning from Herblock. His cartoons were devastating, incisive, unequivocal — unforgettable. He didn’t want to entertain you or make you laugh. It was outrage over

perceived injustice, incompetence, hypocrisy or skulduggery that caused him to pick up an ink pen. Ironically, his cartoons’ searing honesty and truthfulness made me laugh. Herblock was a

marvelous draftsman as well. His caricatures cut to the heart and soul of their subjects, as true caricature should do. Younger

cartoonists consider Herblock’s work old-fashioned and outdated. What a pity!

Herblock often made his point through dramatic juxtaposition. If a politician said one thing and did another, he portrayed the hypocrisy as it was with little embellishment. These four cartoons take from that lesson.