Political Cartoonist Herb Block His Integrity Keeps The Heat On Politicians.(A)

By Michael Richman

Investor's Business Daily

Herb Block has a rule: What you see is what you get.

Block, a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, doesn't waver from his convictionswhen creating a cartoon. His drawings are straightforward, and he's blunt and spare with his commentary. Plus, he doesn't let outside pressure from colleagues and the public detract him from the messages he wants to send.

"Everyone else with great talent likes to go around the corner or find some twist or develop some nuance," said Roger Rosenblatt, editor at large for Time Inc. "Herb never does any of that; he's very clear. To him, a liar is a liar, athief is a thief, a scoundrel is a scoundrel, and so forth."

A cartoonist for 72 years, Block has produced thousands of candid drawings, many of which he used to expose cases where politicians betrayed the public's trust. Two of his key targets were Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon.

By 1950, McCarthy and Nixon were immersed in crusades to create hysteria about the growth of communism in the U.S. In February 1950, McCarthy, a Wisconsin senator, accused 205 State Department employees of being communists.