Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life

Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life tells of the remarkable career that has spanned the era from Roosevelt to Clinton. Herb Block opposed isolationism before World War II; warned of nuclear hazards in the '40s; opposed McCarthyism in the '50s and racism in the '50s and '60s; and zeroed in on Watergate in the '70s and Iran-contra and other Reagan-Bush scandals in the '80s.
He coined the word "McCarthyism" and describes that time of fear. He also writes engagingly about personal incidents and meetings with public figures.
Herbert Block has been using the pen name "Herblock" since the age of thirteen, when he started contributing quips and comments to a humor column in the Chicago Tribune and apprenticed himself to the columnist. He dropped out of college to take his first cartooning job with the Chicago Daily News at age 19.
In 1946, after a wartime stint in the Army, he moved to The Washington Post - then a comparatively small paper.
He is the only cartoonist to win the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award for contributions to the cause of freedom of speech and the press, the National Press Club Fourth Estate Award and the Franklin Roosevelt Freedom Medal. He is also the only living cartoonist whose work is in the National Gallery of Art.

The prize-winning Washington Post editorial cartoonist Herblock is feared by erring politicians and admired by others for his humorous and pointed drawings on issues of the day. Along with 200 examples of his graphic style and ingenious ideas (Nixon holding the GOP elephant hostage, Carter viewing his own "Fuzzy" TV image, Ollie North turning shredded evidence into lucrative contracts), the artist here engagingly recalls a baseball-and-trolley-car Chicago boyhood followed by his start as a poorly paid cartoonist, a career which ultimately won him nation-wide recognition. Block includes hard-hitting capsule histories of Nixon, Reagan and Bush administration scandals he chronicled. His quietly told press corps anecdotes, such as helping a colleague authenticate a letter from President Truman, his insider bits on the famous and descriptions of correspondence he has received from people he has criticized are all pure delight.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Block--a.k.a. ``Herblock''--is a national institution. His drawings--appearing in The Washington Post since 1945--have been cited as factors in the discrediting of McCarthyism (a word he invented), the promotion of racial equality, the warning against nuclear war, and the toppling of Nixon. Here, in a lively memoir, Block rehashes many of his battles against abuses of power and the public trust; especially interesting are his assessments of the Presidents he's caricatured during his seven decades of political commentary. Block rarely second-guesses his earlier opinions, even on Eisenhower, whose posthumous reputation he attributes largely to our forgetting Ike's inaction on civil rights and his pandering to McCarthyism. The author is more charitable to JFK and LBJ, without airbrushing their political and personal flaws. But he reserves his full contempt for Nixon and Bush, whom he portrays as unprincipled opportunists interested only in winning and in helping themselves to the spoils. Sprinkled among the professional memories are anecdotes of Block's early days in Chicago, his army stint, his heart attack, his unsuccessful attempt to learn to swim, and his rubbing elbows with a fair number of the famous, in and out of politics. While Block the cartoonist has always been in the thick of things, his off-duty persona seems to have lived a comparatively placid life. And except for a few scattered comments on the tools and techniques of his trade, he has disappointingly little to say here about the art of cartooning itself (although his comments on a number of his fellow cartoonists are illuminating). Outspoken, unashamedly liberal, and thoroughly readable. (Enriched by 200 vintage Herblock cartoons, plus an eight-page photo insert--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In an era when small-time actors, minor sports figures, and a succession of shady characters distinguished only by appearances on talk shows feel entitled to tell us their life stories, it is refreshing to read the autobiography of a man whose life and work have counted for something. Block, a.k.a. Herblock, has clearly enjoyed every minute of his last 47 years as a syndicated political cartoonist for the Washington Post. "What could be a more enviable or satisfying job," he writes, "than drawing a picture every day and getting in your two cents worth on whatever is going on in the world." And plenty has gone on during his tenure at the Post : the Cold War; McCarthyism (Herblock coined the term in one of his cartoons); the Civil Rights Movement; the Kennedy assassination; the Vietnam War; Watergate; and the Reagan/Bush years. All were fodder for his acerbic pen. Accompanied by over 200 of these cartoons, the text is an easy mixture of anecdotes about famous personalities he has known, together with his political philosophy--a philosophy grounded in respect for human rights and high ethical values. Highly recommended for all collections.
- Janice Zlendich, California State Univ. Lib., Fullerton
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.