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David Low and America, 1936–1950

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2009

David Turley
David Turley
Affiliation:
David Turley is a Lecturer in History, Darwin College, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NY, England. Research for the essay was carried Out under the aegis of the Centre for the Study of Cartoons and Caricature at the University of Kent, and was funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The author wishes to thank the Trust, Jim Schoff and Liz Ottaway for assistance, and Cohn Seymour-Ure, Graham Thomas, Clyde Binfield and Kate McLuskie for comment.
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Extract

Few figures are more rapidly forgotten than dead journalists, except perhaps dead cartoonists. Yet the graphic work of Sir David Low (1891–1963) has not entirely slipped from memory. He is recalled as the inventor of the contradictory certainties of Colonel Blimp and as a scourge of appeasement. Particularly in the years immediately before, during and after the Second World War he achieved an international reputation. He was not perceived, and did not see himself, as a “funny man” but as a commentator on and analyst of international politics. His cartooning he presented as a form of argument to educate opinion in defence of liberal values and democratic institutions and in favour of rational conduct in international affairs. For these reasons his graphic and print journalism are revealing about the strengths and limitations of the outlook which might be termed “liberal internationalism.” Precisely because of this ideological content the United States became crucial in Low's thought at a time when liberal values and democratic institutions seemed under imminent threat and American capacity to accede to or refuse the role of “successor to John Bull” more apparent.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of American Studies , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , August 1987 , pp. 183 - 205
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

1 Watt, D. Cameron, Successor To John Bull (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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10 New York World Telegram, 26 Oct. 1936.

11 Low, 235.

12 “U.S.A. Notes [1948]” in “Low Note Book 17A,” Cartoon Centre.

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22 Figure 2, originally in Evening Standard (ES), 11 Feb, 1929.

23 Low, 219.

24 ES, 23 June 1939; ES, 29 June 1942; New York Times (NYT), 22 Sept. 1946.

25 NYT, 30 Oct. 1949.

26 NYT, 20 July 1952, “Jumping to reckless conclusions…”; NYT, 18 Oct. 1953, “Fate has made us all honorary Americans”; NYT, 19 Dec. 1954, “Old Low's History…”.

27 E.g. NYT, 16 March, 16 Nov. 1952.

28 NYT, 18 Oct. 1953.

29 Low, David, A Cartoon History Of Our Times With An Introduction And Text By Quincy Howe (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939), 5Google Scholar. Originally published May 1932.

30 Figure 3, DL 1280, Cartoon Centre, ES, 15 Dec. 1937.

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