HISTORICAL CARTOONS

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HISTORICAL CARTOONS

• Interwar Developments
• Part 1

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Permanent Prosperity
The USA had never before known the sustained
prosperity that it experienced during the 1920s.
A booming economy gave rise to the expectation
that the good times would go on indefinitely.
That expectation is conveyed in this cartoon by
the American cartoonist, published in 1929 on the
eve of the Great Depression.
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Finis
While he was running for the office of President
in 1928, President Hoover had promised the
American people a chicken in every pot and a
car in every garage. When the Great Depression
set in the 1930 Hoover declared that prosperity
is around the corner. Frankin Roosevelt, a
Democrat, rejected Hoover and the policies of
the Republican Party, sometimes referred to as
the Grand Old Party.
This cartoon was published in 1933, captures the
popular perception of Hoover and the Republican
policies as being outmoded and irrelevant.
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Power Struggle
This cartoon is a German comment on the struggle
for power after Lenins death. The tall figure
is Trotsky who is being held back from taking
power by Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoview.
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The Victim
This cartoon was drawn by the British cartoonist
and is a comment on the first Five Year Plan. It
was published in Punch on 1933, the year the
first plan ended and the second Plan began. The
caption refers to the accusations of sabotage and
machine wrecking which were made against workers
who failed to achieve the levels of production
set in the plan, or whose machinery broke down
because of the pressure to produce more and more
goods. So called saboteurs and wreckers were
often shot.
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The Goose-Step
The stiff legged marching style used by the
German army was known as the goose-step. Thuis
the British cartoonist chose to comment ton
German actions in 1936 by adopting the nursery
rhyme Goosey Goosey Gander. This cartoon was
published in Punch in 1936.
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The League? Pah! The League is contemptible! The
League can do nothing!
This cartoon was published in Punch in 1935,
describing Mussolinis neglect of the League of
Nations.
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Red Carpet
Japanese World Power
This cartoon is David Lows view of Japanese
foreign policy in Asia in the late 1930s.
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The Parting Guest
This cartoon was published in Punch on 22
December 1937. An elegant and faintly cynical
League of Nations bids a well-bred goodbye to an
ill-mannered guest. A masked Mussolini, pockets
bulging with pilfered silverware, slinks down the
steps of the Leagues headquarters in Geneva,
carrying his loot.
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• Parts 2 and 3 of this presentation will be
  continued on the coming IT resources CD or our
  web site.
• Teaching resources, such as AL teaching notes,
  worksheets, sample data-based questions and web
  resources, are available on our web site.

• Prepared by
• Hong Kong Association of History Educators
• http//home.hkcampus.net/hkahe
• March 2001