ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
3051 UNIVERSITY AVENUE STOP 9000
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202-9000

In 1963, the Grand Forks Herald published a compilation of 112 of Stuart McDonald's cartoons in a book entitled The McDonald Book: A Collection of Editorial Cartoons by the Grand Forks Herald's Award Winning Cartoonist. The preface to the book was written by Scott Long, an old friend of McDonald's and himself an editorial cartoonist at the Minneapolis Tribune.

Preface to The McDonald Book
by Scott Long

In America today there are just about as many political cartoonists as there are U. S. Senators. Naturally, I do not mean to compare the eminence of the two professions altough, in our moments of euphoria, we like to think that sometimes, in individual cases, cartoonists can be just as effective.

I do mean to compare the two professions in size and in exclusiveness, however. After all, there is about the same small number of good jobs open to would-be cartoonists in America as there are open to would-be Senators. Cartoonists like Senators are distributed geographically about the country and both grapple with problems of government, society and the public interest. Each of us, in a sense, has his own constituency to worry about. Political cartoonists as a group, like U. S. Senators as a group, have certain mutual interests distinguishing them from the public and which force them into a unique and exclusive fraternity, whether they like it as individuals or not.

It is always a pleasure to welcome a newcomer to this fraternity (whether he wishes it or not!) and it is an especial pleasure to welcome Stuart McDonald of the Grand Forks Herald because he is also an old, personal friend.

Here follows a collection of 112 of his most recent cartoons. They are distinguished by the use of heavy blacks, straightforward lines and muted crayon. They are also distinguished by heavy satire and straightforward opinion. And that is as it should be.

No political cartoonist is worth his salt who misuses his valuable space by drawing inoffensive, pretty pictures about the news. A political cartoon is a weapon of attack to be used against the evils and the follies of society. It is potentially the strongest weapon in modern journalism. Often it is drawn in good humor and often it is not. It does not matter how it is drawn if it achieves the purpose of the cartoonist. His pur pose is not to be well-liked and popular. It is to reveal injustice and deflate humbug. His purpose is to sting you to awareness of what he regards as a social evil.

Political cartoonists are not mere entertainers. Most of us will be content to draw soothing, reassuring pictures when the millennium arrives, but we don't think it is here yet. Right now, we seek to add salt, not sugar, to the social stew we see around us.

The hundred men in this country like Stu McDonald come and go as our Nation's history moves on. They are necessary to democracy and they are even more necessary if we should lose our freedoms, but there will always be some of them around. For this bus iness of drawing political and social satire is one of the oldest professions in the long history of man. It is older than the U.S. Senate, older even than the Roman Senate. It is as old as tyranny of any kind.

By Scott Long Minneapolis Tribune Editorial Cartoonist

Past President Ass'n American Editorial Cartoonists

Return to: Politics