Herblock Special Report

In the popular mind, which is very forgetful, there has been a partial rehabilitation of Richard Nixon. The actions of the administration of George W. Bush have demonstrated that very little was learned from the Watergate affair regarding trusting the word of a president. In the opinion of Nixon administration veteran John Dean, the actions of the George W. Bush administration are worse than Watergate. The difference in this case is that the Democrats in Congress are completely spineless, unwilling to stand up to the lies and bullying that is the current Republican stock in trade. In this atmosphere, it was enjoyable to read Herb Block's comments about the Nixon legacy, such as it is. Written in 1974, Block was a cartoonist who was a leading figure in pointing out the scandals and sleaze so pervasive in the life of Richard Nixon. Fortunately, at that time, the system for the removal of a corrupt president worked and the nation moved on. While many news commentators have pointed out the dangerous, incompetent and at times false claims of the Bush administration, there seems to be no cartoonist with the stature of Block to so succinctly point out how bad things really are. These cartoons had such an accurate bite to them during the political career of Nixon that they helped bring him down. If you want to track the dirty side of the political life of Richard Nixon, then this is an excellent place to start.

Herblock was America's greatest political cartoonist, and his work was at its pinacle during the Nixon Administration. This book contains hundreds of his funniest, most powerful cartoons alongside a concise narrative that sets them in context. The narrative is great, but the cartoons are what this volume is all about. Each is truly worth a thousand well-chosen words. They provide a better feel for that absurd and trying time than any narrative could.