David Levine: Hearing No Evil

A drawing by caricaturist David Levine gathers the personalities from the Watergate scandal in a circle. There is a lot of finger-pointing going on in a clockwise manner. The image appeared on a printed insert included in the tenth anniversary issue of the New York Review of Books in the summer of 1973. The listening devices in the drawing are unmistakeable references to the White House tapes recorded by President Nixon in the Oval Office. Caricaturist Bado points out on his blog that Levine's image is based on a Thomas Nast political cartoon of Boss Tweed and the Tammany Ring. The eight Nixon Administration caricatures were familiar figures on the nightly news then, but they are not so familiar to us today. Left to right they are (to the best of my and my friend's and family's recollections): Alexander Butterfield[?], unidentified, John Mitchell, Richard Nixon, John Ehrlichman, John Dean, unidentified, and H. R. Haldeman.

David Levine
New York Review of Books Tenth Anniversary Issue, October 18, 1973

Thomas Nast
"Who Stole the People's Money?" 'Twas Him
Harper's Weekly, August 19, 1871

https://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon-Large.asp?Month=August&Date=19

Royal Books, which offers this print for sale as a "broadside," makes some other interesting assertions as well. To be clear, the New York Review of Books is not in any way related to the New York Times Book Review, Vice President Spiro Agnew does not appear in this print, and "passing the buck" does not fully convey the degree of moral turpitude permeating the Nixon White House.

David Levine
Royal Books Listing Accessed March 17, 2019

https://www.royalbooks.com/pages/books/126004/richard-nixon-david-levine-cartoonist-watergate/broadside-depicting-richard-nixon-spiro-agnew-and-others-passing-the-buck-issued-in-honor-of-the

Thomas Nast
Two Great Questions
Harper's Weekly, August 19, 1871

https://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon-Large.asp?Month=August&Date=19

Note:  I'm afraid I've come up a bit short in my ability to recognize all the coconspirators from the Nixon Administration. My thanks to my father for being able to recognize John Dean without his, Dean's, glasses on. Political junkies are invited to help me identify the remaining unnamed figures in the Levine drawing. Avid historians are also welcome to identify the individuals in the Nast drawings standing with Boss Tweed.


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Jack Davis and the Circle of Blame

Jack Davis supplied the artwork for numerous Time magazine covers. Here is one with a lot of finger-pointing. The April 30, 1973 cover refers to the great Watergate scandal in the Nixon White House. At the time, I thought it was a fantastic magazine cover. It has held up remarkably well.

President Nixon is surrounded by his aides, who are entangled in wiretapping material used during the break-ins at the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. (The tapes shown here are not the Nixon White House tapes of Presidential conversations recorded in the Oval Office, the existence of which had not yet been disclosed.) Clockwise from top right: Jeb Magruder, Deputy Director of the Committee to Re-Elect the President; White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman; White House Counsel John Dean; former Attorney General John Mitchell; former Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans, subsequently the finance chair of the Committee to Re-Elect the President; and James McCord, a security coordinator for the Committee to Re-Elect the President who was arrested during the second break-in at the Watergate Hotel. Those were the days, my friend!

Jack Davis, "Watergate Breaks Wide Open," Time, April 30, 1973

Jack Davis, Original Artwork for "Watergate Breaks Wide Open," Time, April 30, 1973

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/5022979999/?reg=1&src=fave

Note:  Say, does anyone remember a similar illustration published after the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster? It depicts a circle of finger-pointers, one of them labelled Thiokol, and was entitled "The O-Ring." It may or may not be by Jack Davis. If you have a scan of it, I'd love to see it for purposes of comparison and to refresh my memory. If it is indeed by Jack Davis, I might even like to include it in this post. Anybody?

You're in luck! I have another post on Jack Davis here.

Or there's another post on the Watergate Affair here.

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All the President's Men

The Nixon era was a golden period for American political caricature. Below are a pair of color illustrations by Pat Oliphant for All the President's Men published in the June 1974 issue of Playboy.

Pat Oliphant, "All the President's Men" 1

Pat Oliphant, "All the President's Men" 2

 Legendary Auctions

Americana Fall 2002

Lot #1196: Patrick Oliphant Original Political Satire Artwork for Playboy Magazine (2)

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on: 11/15/2002

Patrick Oliphant (1935- ) is one of the premier political cartoonists of the past half century whose works have appeared in numerous magazines over the years including National Lampoon and Playboy. In 1966 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning and today many of his finished works (as well as his sketchbooks) can be found in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. Offered is a two piece work by Oliphant, which was used as an interior illustration in the June 1974 issue of Playboy magazine. The satirical illustrations were used as a story accompaniment for Bob Woodward's and Carl Bernstein's All The Presidents Men and feature contrasting views of Nixon and his cabinet (depicted as pieces on a chessboard) prior to the Watergate scandal and after. In addition to Nixon, the pointed caricatures include many of the most well known names in his administration during that time including Erlichman, Mitchell, Agnew, Dean, Haldeman and Liddy. Together with a complete copy of the June 1974 issue of Playboy featuring this artwork. Mixed media on board, 1974, each signed in the upper right. Both measure 10 3/4" x 15 1/2" and are matted and framed, respectively.

Minimum Bid:	$400
Final Bid (Includes Buyers Premium):	$991

http://www.legendaryauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=29561&auctionid=19&page=0&sortby=0&displayby=2&lotsperpage=50&category=1

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