Treasures in the Stacks – I Should Write About These More Often!

War clouds gathered and America’s press reacted. In 1941 an organization known as WHAT AMERICA THINKS, INC. published a collection of editorials and cartoons drawn from a large cross section of the nation’s newspapers. The title of this massive collection (1,491 pages) is What America Thinks: Editorials and Cartoons. Lockwood Library Book Collection D442.W5. I cannot vouch for it capturing the full range of reaction to the events of summer 1938 to fall 1940, but its contents are prophetic and well worth a look. There’s also some irony, but I’ll let you look for it – it’s there in some of the claims and reactions. For students, as well as others, this is a treasure trove – it would take an impossible effort to compile this material from scratch. Not all time savers are on the Web!

The preface reads:

The swiftly moving events, with all they mean to America, socially, economically and morally, have not gone unheeded. The free press of the United States has captured and translated into cartoon and editorial thousands of the dynamic scenes that have flashed across the world panorama. The freedom, clarity and honesty with which these recordings have been made are a sterling tribute to a great Democracy.