1)
Interpretation:
This political cartoon accentuates the underlying gruesome nature of war, as well as satirize the constant degrading of "doves" by political representatives. Through the use of emotional appeal, the artist displays their belief of the monstrous and appalling truth of the Vietnam War.
As represented by the faces of horror, the residents of Vietnam are constantly suffering from the violence of the war. The man depicted within the left side of the cartoon appears to be holding a child of his. The child, through shades of black and grey, appears to be injured. The two characters depicted behind the man are displaying emotions of distress and horror. The women, as indicated by the presence of longer hair, is demonstrated with lines across the torso symbolizing the hunger and starvation that affects the citizens of Vietnam War. The artist displays his negative belief of the Vietnam War by depicting a variety of individuals; indicating that the war has been causing more negative affects that benefits for the residents of Vietnam. The artist succesfully accentuates the suffering that had been doomed upon the Vietnamese; starvartion, loss, pain, and death.
The artist then emphasizes the lack of perception and understanding the "doves" receive from the politicians. A man is depicted within the bottom right corner appearing in a very agressive way. His aggression is emphasized by the body language in which he was displayed; feet flat on the ground, hand in a first, other pointing accusingly at the man wearing the peace sign. The other character appears in a very shy manner. Contrasting with the other character, the character is wearing a peace sign upon a bulky jacket. The feet is crossed and the arms are close together; indicating a very closed in body language. This character is also carrying a sign that states "Stop the Killing." From this depiction the character can be identified as an interpretation of a "dove." The aggressiveness displayed by the other man and the bashfulness displayed by the second character, allow for the artist to develop the seated man with a negative connotation.
The title of the piece, "You Peaceniks Burn Me Up!," also allows for the artist to critique the "hawks." It can be assumed by the body language of the seated man that the title is meant to act as the character's dialouge. "Burn Me Up!" allows for the interpreter to understand that the man feels constantly bothered by the "dove." The exclamation point also emphasizes the aggressiveness of the "hawk."
Overall, the artist successfully displays his critique and beliefs against the Vietnam War by displaying the suffering of the Vietnamese and the aggressiveness of the "hawks."
2)
Interpretation:
This political cartoon satirizes the hypocracy and imbalance of the budget in the United States during the Vietnam war through the use of personifaction. The artist creates human interpretations of three items he/she believes are issues in the US; administration, the Vietnam war, and US urban needs.
The person representing administration wears a suit and is characterized by his large ears and nose to be Richard Nixon. President Nixon, at the time, was typically depicted with his ears and nose exaggerated in size. Directly above Nixon the artist features a humorous quotation stating "There's money enough to support both of you...now, doesn't that make you feel better?" This quotation directly allows the examiner to identify the subject that is being depicted upon; money distribution. The last portion of the quotation (the question) pokes fun at the thought that administration believes that the fact that having enough money for both is more important rather than distributing it evenly. Although he remains in the center of both other figures, he appears to be leaning closer to the figure symbolizing the Vietnam War. This aspect of the Nixon character displays the imbalance of taxes imposed more toward the Vietnam War rather than US urban needs. The administration character hand gestures are also posed symbolically. One of the characters hands is pointing upward toward the US urban need character. This signification portrays the opinions of administration; they belittle and scold the citizens needs as if the character displaying US urban needs was a child. On the other hand, the Nixon character keeps his arm wrapped around that of the Vietnam War; symbolizing the close relationship and preference for supporting and financing the Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War character is depicted as a voluptuous women displaying several various gaudy garments. The character appears to be sporting expensive accessories (including bejeweled bracelets, necklaces, rings, and earings), a short dress, fishnets, heels, a long fur boa, and a small embellished purse with perfectly completed hair and makeup. In contrast to the other woman (symbolizing US labor needs) her abdomen appears to protrude. All of these factors symbolize the fact that adminstration was essentially "spoiling" the Vietnam War by investing an excessive amount of money into the war.
In contrast to the Vietnam War character depicted, the US labor needs character appears frail with tattered clothes. The woman lacks proper foot wear and clothes to protect her excessively thin extremities. Her face also appears bare and her hair lacks proper grooming. Overall, the portrayal of US labor needs criticizes the lack of attention and budget money that was being administered to the citizens needs during the Vietnam War.
3)
Interpretation:
This political cartoon brings attention to the infamous political scandal, the Watergate Scandal. The artist Herbert Block, is capable of developing a sarcastic and annoyed tone when expressing his opinions on the Watergate Scandal through his depiction of the trails, the title, the men, and the building.
Block depicts three trails all of which represent a different and suspicious occurrence during the historical period. The trails are labeled "bugging case," "Nixon fund scandals," and "Intervention in I.T.T case." The depiction of shoe marks appear to be exiting from the building. The darkness of the shoe marks allow for the examiner to make the assumption that these were recent events. The "Bugging Case" calls attention toward the break in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.. During the break in the burglars were ordered to wire tap the office. Later on it was also revealed that Nixon had implemented a recording system inside the Oval Office. The trail labeled "Nixon Fund Scandals" acknowledges the many suspicious money involvements with other individuals/ corporations Nixon was incorporated into. Scandals such as the Milk Fund Scandal, in which Nixon had planned on cutting funding for the production of milk until he had received $2 million dollar contributions by the milk corporations for his re-election campaign. By doing so, Block allows for the examiner to understand the greedy corruption that was a characteristic of Nixon; revealing that Nixon would be willing to alter his beliefs and decisions based on the presence of money. The third trail, "Intervention in I.T.T. Case," calls attention toward the ITT Scandal of 1969 in which Nixon accepts $400,000 to hold a political convention in San Diego causing John Mitchell to attempt to persuade the administration to drop the anti-trust law suits. All three trails make Nixon's greed driven decisions more prominent to the examiner.
The men depicted in the lower left corner are depicted as investigators. There occupation can be identified by the fedora hats, the long coats, and the magnification glass; all of which are typically used by cartoonists to identify an investigator. Investigators are used to create the implication of something suspicious or illegal about the location and the presence of the trails.
The building, as indicated by the facade of large columns and monotonic windows is the White House. By depicting the White House the artist also created an association with the trails (which are depicted coming from the White House) and the resident President Nixon.
The title, over all other depictions, is what creates the sarcastic yet annoyed tone of Block's. The title is represented as dialouge exchanged by the investigators it states "Strange...They all seem to have some connection with this place." However, the obviousness and prominence of the footprints, which is being examined by one of the investigators, as they are exiting the white house, allows for the development of Block's tone. By making the "clues" so obvious, Block is not only bringing attention to the corruption of Nixon's presidency but also poking fun at the FBI. Block believes that the factors and the clues so obviously lead to the same implication of corruption, however, the FBI is too ignorant enough to connect the clues back to the prominent suspect.
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