U-M Exhibits Political Cartoons by Pulitzer Winner Pat Oliphant

The University of Michigan Clements Library and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy will showcase the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Pat Oliphant, featuring political satire from historical and modern times, on view through mid-December.

September 24, 2024

The University of Michigan Clements Library and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy are showcasing the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Pat Oliphant. The Clements exhibit juxtaposes Oliphant’s cartoons with historic political satire, highlighting the impact of art in democratic society. Featuring caricatures of political figures like Richard Nixon, Bob Dole, Ross Perot, and both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, the exhibit is open through mid-December.

Oliphant, who held annual residencies at U-M’s Wallace House Center for Journalists from 1990 to 2016, sketched political leaders from Lyndon B. Johnson to Barack Obama. “Starting in the 1990s, Pat Oliphant did an annual week in residence at Wallace House for Journalists here at U-M,” said Paul Erickson, director of the Clements Library. “During that time, he created sketches of important figures from American political life. Those sketches inspired staff at the Clements to think about how visual satire works, what it can do, and what purpose it serves in our political culture.”

- Kitchen Table News — These are sketches Pat Oliphant made of presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, and presidential candidates Bob Dole and Ross Perot. (Images courtesy of Wallace House Center for Journalists)

The library’s collection of Oliphant’s work is extensive, requiring careful selection based on content, condition, and size. “We tried to select sketches of people that would be familiar to most visitors, and that would include people from across the political spectrum,” Erickson said. “All of them are men as many of the women leaders that Oliphant sketched were not from the U.S., which was outside of the scope of the exhibit.”

The Ford School exhibit commemorates the 50th anniversary of Gerald R. Ford’s presidency through Oliphant’s cartoons. The Ford Library exhibit, available through fall, includes panels from the National Archives and Records Administration. According to the National Archives, the exhibit “examines how Ford rose to the challenge of the office by exploring some of the difficult decisions that defined his administration and shaped his legacy, including granting clemency to draft dodgers, pardoning Richard Nixon, providing aid for Vietnamese refugees, responding to the Mayaguez crisis, managing Cold War relations with the Soviet Union, and refusing to bail out New York City.”