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Catalogue information
LastDodo number
7966411
Area
Drawings / paintings
Title
He Gave the Rector a Brief Smile...
Artist
Art object
Art Movement / style
Genre
Material
Technique used
Colouring
Dimensions
35 x 29 cm
Series / hero
Collection / set
Number
Addition to number
Year
1967
Country
Language
Details
Original editorial cartoon on card in pen, ink and craftint published in the Worcester Telegram, 1967, shows president Lyndon B. Johnson thanking the priest after a church service: ‘He gave the Rector a brief smile and murmured ‘thank you’. Mrs Johnson was heard to remark ‘wonderful choir’...’. Mrs Johnson’s ‘wonderful choir’ are in fact anti-war demonstrators, and this is an ironic comment on the fact that after mid-1967 President Johnson could make hardly any public appearances without facing protests and heckling, and from then on attempted no public speeches in venues outside military bases. This was the result of the growing opposition to the Vietnam War, one of the most popular chants of protestors being ‘hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?’. The problem of Vietnam poisoned Johnson’s presidency and three months after publication of this cartoon he announced that he would not be standing for re-election in November 1968. Card size 42 x 34 cm, image size 35 x 29 cm, caption in lower border, signed lower left with dedication ‘For Dot with all best wishes’ and dated 14/xi/67 lower right. Also date stamp on verso. In very good condition