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About My Books . . .Unraveling Freedom
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· Publication date: November 9, 2010 |
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In 1915, the United States experienced the 9/11 of its time. A German torpedo sank the Lusitania killing 1,198 innocent passengers and crew. The ensuing hysteria set the scene as the United States entered into World War I—the bitter, brutal conflict that became known as the Great War and the War to End All Wars. But as U.S. troops fought to make the world safe for democracy abroad, our own government eroded freedoms at home, especially for German-Americans. Free speech was no longer an operating principle of American democracy. Award-winning author Ann Bausum asks, just where do Americans draw the line of justice in times of war? Including thought-provoking parallels between President Wilson's government and other wartime administrations, from FDR to George W. Bush, Bausum's analysis has plenty of history lessons for the world today. Her exhaustive research turns up astonishing first-person stories and rare images. Never before has there been a truer example of the famous maxim, Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. |
I love how political cartoons pack a complete story and message into simple flat panels. Even as a teenager I enjoyed puzzling out the meanings represented by inked impersonators awash in a sea of symbols punctuated by a few choice words.
Soon after I began conducting research for the illustrations in Unraveling Freedom, I realized that political cartoons should be an essential part of the book. Cartoonists had chronicled so many important topics during the World War I era. They portrayed the sinking of the Lusitania, questioned the war-time loyalties of German Americans, and debated how best to establish peace at the end of the conflict. Political cartoonists of the day even introduced Americans to Uncle Sam. Artists used Uncle Sam and other symbols—from spiked helmets to dachshund dogs to punctuation marks—to signal their political opinions and to spark debate.
The richness of the cartoon record from World War I helped inspire the commissioning of a graphic foreword for Unraveling Freedom by contemporary political cartoonist Ted Rall. His sequential panels deliver a succinct and powerful accounting of how the pressures of war can prompt even the noblest nations, leaders, and individuals to compromise core principles in the name of national security.
We could only include a few historical cartoons in Unraveling Freedom, so I am posting some additional personal favorites here. Making sense of old political cartoons can be challenging. Click on the thumbnail images below to test your cartoon-reading skills. Some cartoons are easier to decipher than others, so I've added links to hints that may help you interpret the intent of each artist. Then you can compare your interpretations with the ones I've posted at the related links. Cartoons appear in chronological sequence of publication but feel free to explore them in any order. (Hint: Cartoon 4 is one of the easier options. Cartoon 2 is perhaps the trickiest.)
In addition, you'll find a hidden object search at the end of this section. Or click Where's Rehse? to advance directly to this challenge.
Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-7477
CARTOON 1—May 7-1915-1918
Creator: Clifford Kennedy Berryman (1869-1949)
Date published: May 7, 1918
Probable publication site: The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.)
CARTOON ANALYSIS:
Start by making an inventory of the visual clues in the illustration. Cartoonists work within a tight space, so nothing is added frivolously. Even small details add to the meaning of the work. Can you identify what each visual element represents?
Next consider the text. What meanings are intended by words that accompany the illustration? Take note of any cartoon caption as well as text that appears within the art.
People reviewing these cartoons when they were originally published would have been familiar with the meaning of most visual and textual clues. For today's readers, it's easy to be stumped by content in historical cartoons because we lack that background knowledge. If you're unsure of the cartoon's symbolism, consult these CLUES.
After you've identified the meanings of the art and text, try to construct a written or spoken story that explains the illustration. When you're done, you can compare your analysis with my suggested INTERPRETATION.
RELATED EXCERPT FROM UNRAVELING FREEDOM:
"It took only 18 minutes for the great ship to sink. Even the Titanic had lingered on the ocean surface for more than two hours before sliding to the bottom of the Atlantic in 1912. But, on a sunny spring afternoon just three years later, the Lusitania began to list toward her starboard side almost immediately after being struck by a single submarine-fired torpedo. Minutes later she was gone."
—from Chapter 1, "Sunk," page 13
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Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, digital ID cai 2a14490
CARTOON 2—Those Idiotic Yankees
Creator: William Allen Rogers (1854-1931)
Date published: Sept. 24, 1915
Publication site: New York Herald
CARTOON ANALYSIS:
Start by making an inventory of the visual clues in the illustration. Cartoonists work within a tight space, so nothing is added frivolously. Even small details add to the meaning of the work. Can you identify what each visual element represents?
Next consider the text. What meanings are intended by words that accompany the illustration? Take note of any cartoon caption as well as text that appears within the art.
People reviewing these cartoons when they were originally published would have been familiar with the meaning of most visual and textual clues. For today's readers, it's easy to be stumped by content in historical cartoons because we lack that background knowledge. If you're unsure of the cartoon's symbolism, consult these CLUES.
After you've identified the meanings of the art and text, try to construct a written or spoken story that explains the illustration. When you're done, you can compare your analysis with my suggested INTERPRETATION.
RELATED EXCERPT FROM UNRAVELING FREEDOM:
"In fact [President Woodrow] Wilson had carefully avoided combat after the Lusitania went down. He tried instead to be a peacemaker for Europe and sought to bring harmony and democracy to the world's citizens. Thus for two years he employed diplomacy and his powers of persuasion to avoid war.…[During this period] plenty of Americans remained reluctant to shed blood for what was essentially seen as a fight between old world rivals. These citizens helped reelect Wilson in 1916 with the campaign slogan, "He kept us out of war."
—from Chapter 2, "A Call to Arms," page 29
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Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-42610
CARTOON 3—Getting Under Cover
Creator: Sid Green (lifespan unrecorded)
Year published: 1917 (month and date not recorded)
Publication site: Evening Telegram (New York, New York)
CARTOON ANALYSIS:
Start by making an inventory of the visual clues in the illustration. Cartoonists work within a tight space, so nothing is added frivolously. Even small details add to the meaning of the work. Can you identify what each visual element represents?
Next consider the text. What meanings are intended by words that accompany the illustration? Take note of any cartoon caption as well as text that appears within the art.
People reviewing these cartoons when they were originally published would have been familiar with the meaning of most visual and textual clues. For today's readers, it's easy to be stumped by content in historical cartoons because we lack that background knowledge. If you're unsure of the cartoon's symbolism, consult these CLUES.
After you've identified the meanings of the art and text, try to construct a written or spoken story that explains the illustration. When you're done, you can compare your analysis with my suggested INTERPRETATION.
RELATED EXCERPT FROM UNRAVELING FREEDOM:
Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-37781
"The hyphens. Americans with hyphenated origins, such as German-Americans, often found their allegiance questioned at the time of World War I even as the vast majority of them took steps to become naturalized citizens (above, 1916 in New York City)."
—from Chapter 2, "A Call to Arms," photo caption, page 31
"During the early years of the war, while the U.S. government remained on the sidelines of the fight, many German-Americans had felt comfortable offering their support of the German war through speeches, published commentary, and fund-raising. Some ethnic groups, such as the Irish, even cheered for Germany because of their own dislike for Germany's foe, England….[After America joined the fight], tensions over who could be trusted, whether criticism of the war effort symbolized disloyalty, what it meant to be an American, and whether one could retain connections to a motherland during wartime would dominate the American home front."
—from Chapter 2, "A Call to Arms," pages 31-32
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Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, digital ID, cai 2a13266
CARTOON 4—"Please, Your Honor, I want to change my name from Dachshund to French Bull."
Creator: Oliver Herford (1863-1935)
Date published: Sept. 27, 1917
Publication site: Life
CARTOON ANALYSIS:
Start by making an inventory of the visual clues in the illustration. Cartoonists work within a tight space, so nothing is added frivolously. Even small details add to the meaning of the work. Can you identify what each visual element represents?
Next consider the text. What meanings are intended by words that accompany the illustration? Take note of any cartoon caption as well as text that appears within the art.
People reviewing these cartoons when they were originally published would have been familiar with the meaning of most visual and textual clues. For today's readers, it's easy to be stumped by content in historical cartoons because we lack that background knowledge. If you're unsure of the cartoon's symbolism, consult these CLUES.
After you've identified the meanings of the art and text, try to construct a written or spoken story that explains the illustration. When you're done, you can compare your analysis with my suggested INTERPRETATION.
RELATED EXCERPT FROM UNRAVELING FREEDOM:
"Americans rushed to eradicate all things German. Restaurants renamed the signature German dish of sauerkraut liberty cabbage. Hamburgers became liberty steak. Bars stopped serving pretzels. The German measles illness turned into liberty measles….Businesses, towns, and individuals jettisoned their German-sounding names….Berlin became Belleville. German Street became English Street."
—from Chapter 3, "Off to Kill the Hun," page 43
"The momentum of citizen-based policing and vigilante justice had taken hold on wartime America….Citizens gathered in Omaha, Nebraska, at a stein-breaking festival to destroy the distinctive German beer mugs. Officials locked up the German-born conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under charges of being an enemy alien. And residents of Columbus, Ohio, reportedly put to death local dogs from German breeds, such as dachshunds."
—from Chapter 4, "Hold Your Tongue," page 51
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Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-38140
CARTOON 5—Ten Little Hyphens
Creator: Sid Green (lifespan unrecorded)
Date published: unrecorded, perhaps December 6, 1917
Publication site: Evening Telegram (New York, New York)
CARTOON ANALYSIS:
Start by making an inventory of the visual clues in the illustration. Cartoonists work within a tight space, so nothing is added frivolously. Even small details add to the meaning of the work. Can you identify what each visual element represents?
Next consider the text. What meanings are intended by words that accompany the illustration? Take note of any cartoon caption as well as text that appears within the art.
People reviewing these cartoons when they were originally published would have been familiar with the meaning of most visual and textual clues. For today's readers, it's easy to be stumped by content in historical cartoons because we lack that background knowledge. If you're unsure of the cartoon's symbolism, consult these CLUES.
After you've identified the meanings of the art and text, try to construct a written or spoken story that explains the illustration. When you're done, you can compare your analysis with my suggested INTERPRETATION.
RELATED EXCERPT FROM UNRAVELING FREEDOM:
"Judges scrambled to interpret new laws and weigh their intent against protections like the First Amendment right of free speech as set out in the U.S. Constitution, all within the context of wartime hysteria. Many of the accused encountered judges and juries who supported the new restrictive laws. A patron at a bar in Illinois found himself sentenced to two years at the notorious Fort Leavenworth prison for commenting that Germany was "all right." Three men who left a tavern singing a German war song earned six months of labor at a workhouse. A Russian-American woman speaking to a women's club received a ten-year sentence for suggesting that the nation's war effort was designed to benefit the corporations that made military weapons."
—from Chapter 4, "Hold Your Tongue," page 50
[ back to cartoons ]
Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-9659
CARTOON 6—Refusing to Give the Lady a Seat
Creator: Rollin Kirby (1875-1952)
Date published: circa 1919-20
Probable publication site: New York World
CARTOON ANALYSIS:
Start by making an inventory of the visual clues in the illustration. Cartoonists work within a tight space, so nothing is added frivolously. Even small details add to the meaning of the work. Can you identify what each visual element represents?
Next consider the text. What meanings are intended by words that accompany the illustration? Take note of any cartoon caption as well as text that appears within the art.
People reviewing these cartoons when they were originally published would have been familiar with the meaning of most visual and textual clues. For today's readers, it's easy to be stumped by content in historical cartoons because we lack that background knowledge. If you're unsure of the cartoon's symbolism, consult these CLUES.
After you've identified the meanings of the art and text, try to construct a written or spoken story that explains the illustration. When you're done, you can compare your analysis with my suggested INTERPRETATION.
RELATED EXCERPT FROM UNRAVELING FREEDOM:
Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-36185
"Contrarian rival. Henry Cabot Lodge (above), a powerful Republican senator from Massachusetts who had frequently criticized the Democratic Wilson during his Presidency, questioned the soundness of Wilson's push for a postwar League of Nations. Lodge worried that U.S. participation in the peacekeeping League would undercut America's independence, concluding that the U.S. might be forced to follow League decisions—such as going to war—even if its leaders opposed them."
—from Chapter 5, "Between War and Peace," photo caption, page 62
"When support for the treaty lagged on Capitol Hill, [President Woodrow] Wilson embarked on an ambitious cross-country speaking tour to recruit public pressure for its passage. Although his fame drew enthusiastic crowds, the tour failed to help the treaty. Instead, the exertion of travel and public speaking nearly killed the President. After collapsing from exhaustion during the homebound journey, Wilson was rushed back to the White House. Within days, he experienced a major stroke that left him mentally challenged and physically disabled for the rest of his life."
—from Chapter 5, "Between War and Peace," page 65
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WHERE'S REHSE?
Are you ready for more cartoon exploration? Consider the story of F.J.M. Rehse.
Here are some suggested points of discussion that could be used in conjunction with the reading of Unraveling Freedom.
In the classroom—echoes of history. One can discover the echoes of history countless places in Unraveling Freedom. Readers will find them even in the cartoon foreword and the illustrated endpapers of the book (those red pages that attach the pages of the book to the cover). What are some of the echoes you found reading the book? How does the treatment of German Americans during World War I compare and contrast with attitudes toward Arab Americans during the conflicts of the 21st century? In what ways were the sinking of the Lusitania similar and different from the 9-11 attacks of 2001?
In the classroom—presidential secrecy. In Chapter 5 ("Between War and Peace," page 65-66) readers learn how President Woodrow Wilson became gravely ill during the final years of his Presidency. The seriousness of his illness remained unknown by most Americans and was not fully revealed until years later by historians. What factors allowed such a major secret to be concealed during Wilson's Presidency? Who helped to keep this secret, and why? Who refused to cooperate? Consider how history might have changed if the news had leaked out. Was it appropriate or inappropriate for the deceit to occur?
In the classroom—in the name of national security. Review the "Guide to Wartime Presidents" (pages 74-78) then consider ways that national security concerns have affected home front civil liberties during war time. What are common threads? What are the exceptions to the patterns? Debate the merits of maintaining versus restricting civil liberties during times of heightened national security concern. Should free speech be limited or protected? Can concerns about immigrant populations be justified? How does fear influence foreign policy during wartime?
Author program. Follow this link to find out about an author program related to this book. The program is called "Wartime Rights, Wartime Fights."
Click other links to read audience feedback about programs and learn how to arrange for Author Visits.
Selection of the Junior Library Guild
Booklist 2010 Editors' Choice
One of seven titles chosen from youth nonfiction for older readers by the editors of Booklist, trade magazine of the American Library Association
Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
National Council for the Social Studies and the Children's Book Council
Choices 2011
Cooperative Children's Book Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"….Black-and-white archival photos and political cartoons are arranged in an artistic manner with informative captions. Red and blue backgrounds create a dramatic effect in the layout of the text. Appropriate quotations by various people of the time are displayed in elegant fonts. Make this unique and timely offering a definite first purchase."
—School Library Journal, starred review
Fall 2010
"Writer of the Sibert Honor Book Freedom Riders (2006)….Without belaboring the point, Bausum connects the dots between responses to the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania and the 2001 bombing of the World Trade Center….[T]he book as a whole is well focused, well reasoned, and clearly written. Handsomely designed….Back matter includes…a useful "Guide to Wartime Presidents," which identifies eight wartime periods in America and, for each, discusses whether (and how) freedom was curtailed and provides a presidential quote. A fascinating, informative book on a topic of perennial concern."
—Booklist, starred review
Editor's Choice Award
December 15, 2010
"The time couldn't be any better for nonfiction and this book is a new breed of nonfiction. Bausum's newest book is incredible from the first sentence….Bausum's book is a book I would buy for every student in my school, not just because of the depiction of democracy in America and abroad, but rather due to the deft correlations the author draws between WWI and 9/11. The first mention on page 25 and you know the journey you are about to take through the book will leave you a better, more informed person by the end. What a perfect book to use when teaching compare and contrast or democratic ideology….If you only buy one book this year it should be this book. Even the endpapers were considered when putting this book together. Salute to Bausum for a superb work of nonfiction and another to National Geographic for the commitment to publish this work. Grades 5 and up. Highly Recommended."
—Library Media Connection, 2010
"This fascinating account of the political and social climate in the United States during World War I looks at how intense nationalism and patriotism resulted in growing intolerance and infringement on citizen's civil rights....Author Ann Bausum's insightful look at the often deeply disturbing course of events on the home front during World War I concludes with relevant comparisons to events during other wars in U.S. history, including the current conflicts in Iran and Afghanistan, and leaves plenty of room for astute readers to draw many additional parallels and comparisons."
—CCBC Choices, 2011
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American Memory—Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures
Library of Congress photo essays and time line
American Memory—The Stars and Stripes
Library of Congress on-line archive and photo essay
The American Presidency Project
On-line archive of Woodrow Wilson's notable presidential documents and speeches
"From the Home Front and the Front Lines"
Library of Congress on-line exhibit about American experiences during five wars
Library of Congress—Woodrow Wilson Papers
Library of Congress—World War I posters
The Montana Sedition Project
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum
Denied, Detained, Deported
See Chapter 2 of my book about the dark side of American immigration for more information about the Red Scare of 1919. This book examines other instances when national security collided with immigrant populations, too, such as the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II (see Chapter 4).
The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century
Last Voyage of the Lusitania, National Geographic documentary, 1996.
Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy, by Diana Preston, Berkley Books, 2003.
With Courage and Cloth
See my accounting of the fight for a woman's right to vote. Chapters 4 through 6 detail the conflicts between Woodrow Wilson and suffragists during and after World War I.
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