In June 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was made an honorary member of the National Cartoonists Society. The occasion was celebrated at a formal breakfast in Washington, attended by Ike and many NCS members.
Ike invited the attending newspaper and magazine cartoonists to make free use of him as a subject for a portrait, caricature, gag cartoon or illustration. This being an NCS event, there was plenty of drawing paper, pencils and pens on hand. At the conclusion of the breakfast, Ike asked to see the drawings. He smiled broadly as one after another was held up, laughed outright at some of the gags, and then expressed the desire to keep them. In fulfillment of that request,, the NCS collected the originals of 95 drawings made on that morning, put them in a specially-designed leather binding and sent it to the White House.
This is a picture of that presentation volume.
Two years later, a hardcover book was published by Frederick Fell, Inc., which reproduced the 95 drawings. The book was approved by President Eisenhower, since its stated purpose was to help promote the sale of U.S. Savings Bonds.
This is the cover of that book.
The book includes drawings by icons of the cartooning and comic strip business, including (just to name a few) Rube Goldberg, Walt Kelly, Chic Young, Milton Caniff, Bud Fisher, Bill Mauldin, Bob Kane, Ham Fisher, Bill Holman and George McManus.
But this is a site that's devoted to gag cartooning, so I'm going to be selective and only show you some of the famous gag cartoonists that participated in the project.
And here they are.
Bill Yates.
Dick Cavalli.
Otto Soglow.
Al Ross (one of the four cartooning Roth brothers). For more info, click here.
Salo (another of the Roth brothers).
Irving Roir (another of the Roth brothers).
Bo Brown.
Henry Boltinoff. For a little more info, click here.
Gregory d'Alessio.
Kate Osann.
Jeff Keate.
George Wolfe. For a little more info, click here.
Larry Reynolds.
Dick Ericson.
4 Comments
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Hi!
Dick Ericson was my father and his is the last cartoon on this page. I’m glad it was chosen out of the 95.
I thought I’d let you know that the beautiful cover to the original book presented to President Eisenhower was done by Frank Fogarty who was well-known for his “illuminations” and even won a special prize from the National Cartoonist Society because of his beautiful work.
I was a 6 year old little girl when Daddy went to the White House to have breakfast with Ike Eisenhower and I remember asking him if he ate Wheaties with bananas like he did every morning and he was sweet enough to tell me, yes, he did. I also asked if the President and he both ate breakfast in their bathrobes at the kitchen table and he assured me they did. So for years I pictured just my father and the President sharing an intimate breakfast! I hold on to that picture in my mind to this day.
I was lucky enough to have met so many of the cartoonists of this era when I was older and a fascinating group they were. Some were funny, some were depressed but all loved what they did for a living. A wonderful group of misfits, really.
Dick Ericson, my father, initiated the ACE Award (Amateur Cartoonist Extraordinary) and I was there the second year it was awarded to a young Carol Burnett who, although she attended the dinner, didn’t appear to comprehend the honor bestowed upon her by these special artists.
I could go on, but it would take up too much space. I’m glad to have had this opportunity to let you know about the cover of the book presented to Ike, probably the last “invulnerable” President of the United States.
Lisa Ericson
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Thanks for sharing all this with us, Lisa. I have many fond memories of your father’s gag cartoons, though I didn’t know him personally.
Hi Eli,
Hi Eli,
I was delighted to find your post on President Eisenhower and the NCS. My father, George Wolfe, was one of the cartoonists who participated in the event and whose cartoon you posted among the examples from the book. I was just 8 years old when Dad went to D.C. and I was totally unaware of it until this year when I started researching and collecting my Dad’s cartoons online and found a New Jersey newspaper report on the event. He was also very active in the NCS, acting as their Treasurer for several years and winning Gag Cartoonist of the Year awards 4 times as well as the Silver T-Square award in 1982. I hope to see more of his cartoons on your website. Thanks very much for your most valuable service!
Thanks for checking in,
Thanks for checking in, Lawrence. I am very familiar with your father’s gag cartooning, and am glad that you reminded me of some of the awards and honors bestowed on him. You have a lot to be proud of.