Oregon’s famous political-party-hopping Sen. Wayne Morse knew that in order to survive in the cutthroat world of American politics, a sense of humor is an essential tool.
That sense of humor is now on display as part of the Wayne Morse Legacy Series, which is showing political cartoons depicting the late senator on the main floor of the UO’s Knight Library through November.
Published between 1941 and 1966, the cartoons show Morse in a wide array of humorous situations. From barricading himself against both an elephant and a donkey to becoming a hybrid of the two political party animals, the major events of his political career are comically represented.
Morse collected about 130 illustrations about his time as a politician from various publications across the country. Not all portrayals of Morse were kind, but he said he enjoyed them nonetheless and often reached out to newspaper editors to acquire signed originals of the cartoons, which he had framed and hung in his senate office.
Several cartoonists who depicted Morse in their drawings, such as C.K. Berryman and Herbert Block (Herblock), went on to earn Pulitzer Prizes for their illustrations.
The cartoons can be viewed online here. All series events are free and open to the public.
The legacy series is a tribute to the 50th anniversary of Morse’s dissent to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and his anti-war philosophy. The series is sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center, the Oregon Historical Society, the World Affairs Council of Oregon and the University of Oregon.
—By Nathaniel Brown, Public Affairs Communications