I thought it would be an interesting look into our nation's political cartoon history if, this month, I took a look at a different editorial cartoon each day that won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. Do note that we're talking basically 1922-1967 here, as since then, the Committee has awarded cartoonists generally for their work, not for an exemplary single cartoon. So in many ways, this is a snapshot of American politics (for better or for worse) over a forty-five year period.

Today we look at Clarence Daniel "C.D." Batchelor's 1937 award-winning cartoon.

Enjoy!

Batchelor was born in 1888 in the Midwest. He traveled around the country doing cartoons (and other arts) for the early part of the 20th Century. He was a big supporter of women's rights, and supplied many cartoons to the cause of suffrage over the years.

Eventually, the transplanted Midwesterner found his lot in life the Big Apple. He began doing political cartoons in New York at the New York Post in 1923. In 1931, he became the lead editorial cartoonist for the Daily News. While the paper (and Batchelor) began the 30s supporting President Roosevelt, by the end of the decade, they had both soured on the President.

One particular area of disagreement between Batchelor and the President was on the topic of the possibility of a World War in the future. While FDR was a proponent of supporting England and France against the rise of Nazi Germany, Batchelor was strictly against going to war (I suppose you could then term him an Isolationist, but I think "anti-war" describes him better).

While he may have had some problems with Roosevelt, the cartoon Batchelor won the Pulitzer Prize for was directed at foreign leaders, specifically Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, in a cartoon about the "Follies of 1936."

This striking anti-war cartoon came out in April of 1936 and was titled "Come on in, I'll treat you right. I used to know your Daddy"

Damned if that isn't some impressive imagery right there!

Batchelor ended his career working for National Review after leaving the Daily News in 1969.

He died in 1977