Politcial cartoons satirize very specif-ic events of the day. Like the newspa-pers that publish them, the cartoonscapture a moment in time — an event, acause, a personality that is importantto that artist in that place at thattime. Then issues fade, personalitieschange and often it’s tough to under-stand a cartoon out of the context ofits time. But some political cartoonsmove beyond the moment. Theyexplore timeless themes that remaincurrent even decades later. In hisPulitzer Prize winning cartoon from1931, John McCutcheon defines amoment that echoes through thedecades. The Great Depression of1929-30 cost many their life savingswhen banks failed. Just change “Victimof Bank Failure” to “Victim of Enron’sCollapse” or “Victim of the TechBubble” and you can see how wellMcCutcheon’s metaphor still fits today. Talking points:

Write a short definition for each of the following.

�� Context _______________________________

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�� Metaphor ______________________________

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What makes a squirrel a “wise economist”? What didthe man do wrong if he really did “squirrel away” somemoney to help him through the bad times. What’s dif-ferent today from what happened during the GreatDepression? Do you think it can happen again?

Timely vs.TimelessUniversal themes capturemore than just a moment

Cartoons for the ClassroomPresented in cooperation with the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC)

Additional resourcesAssociation of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC)http://editorialcartoonists.com/

Get out your newspaperGather a week’s worth of political cartoons from yournewspaper. Using the Cartoon Evaluation Worksheet(available online at the NIE Website) analyze eachcartoon and identify the symbols used and the issues.Which cartoons do you think are timeless and whichare timely? In other words, was the cartoon valid 10years ago? Will it still be valid 10 years from now?

Cartoons for the Classroom is available through Newspaper in Education programs. Copyright Online Publications Inc. and NIEOnline.com

John McCutcheon / Chicago Tribune, 1931, reprinted with permission

A Wise Economist Asks a Question