C. K. Berryman Cartoons
The C.K. Berryman Cartoons consist of 26 original pen-and-ink drawings featuring U.S. Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi. Each of these political cartoons ended up in print on the editorial pages of The Washington Star.
Clifford K. Berryman originated the “teddy bear” symbol in his 1902 illustration “Drawing the Line in Mississippi” by depicting President Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a captured cub during a bear hunt in the Magnolia State. Berryman worked for The Washington Post for eighteen years before switching in 1907 to The Washington Star where he remained until his death in 1949. Avoiding invective, the cartoonist adopted a light-hearted approach to politics that tended to criticize policy, not politicians.
A Democrat, Pat Harrison represented Mississippi in Congress for over thirty years. Soon after his arrival in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1911, the newly elected congressman earned a reputation for witty repartee in partisan debate. Harrison won a Senate seat in 1918. Two years later, his party lost their majority, and the Mississippian became known as the “Democratic Gadfly” for his sarcastic attacks and ridicule of GOP policy. After the Democrats resumed control in 1932, Harrison acquired statesman status. As chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, his persuasive ability and strategic skill shepherded much of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation through the Senate. Harrison died on 22 June 1941 in Washington, DC, where his body lay in state in Senate chambers until transported for burial in his hometown of Gulfport.
Dating from 1924 to 1941, all the drawings in this digital collection feature Pat Harrison. Most comment on the senator’s influence with regards to New Deal legislation, particularly on taxes. Like other cartoonists, Berryman would often give his original drawings to the public officials who provided his subject matter. Thus, the Pat Harrison Collection contributed all but one of the cartoons to this digital collection. The exception is from the Felton M. Johnston Collection; Johnston served for a time in Harrison’s congressional office.
Related Sources (Finding Aids):
Images from the collection (L to R): The Successful Broadcaster (1924); The National Budget and Proposed Increase in Taxes (1940); Pat Harrison Thirty Years in Congress (1941)
