Herblock Exhibit Opens at Library of Congress

By: Carl Hartman, Associated Press Writer (AP) Herblock drew 14,000 cartoons in 72 years as a commentator on world and domestic affairs, covered 13 presidents, and won three Pulitzer prices and a share of a fourth.

His second exhibit at the Library of Congress opened Wednesday after the library inherited his life work and began the 10-year job of putting it all on the Internet.

Herbert Lawrence Block died in 2001 at 91. His often biting images provoked two presidents to cancel their subscriptions to The Washington Post, where he worked for 55 years.

Herblock used 4-by-6-inch drawings to summarize issues others had taken thousands of words to explain, the library said. The new exhibit includes only 15 of them, but a much larger show is being planned for 2009, the 100th anniversary of his birth, said Harry L. Katz, head curator of the library's prints.

Herblock's last cartoon appeared in the Post a few weeks before his death. It depicted Bush taunting Russian President Vladimir Putin with a big stick labeled, "We're a superpower and you're not." It's in the new exhibit.

President Clinton, Herblock's prime target for eight years, gave the cartoonist the Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian honor.

Herblock's archives include huge files of records, letters, clippings, photos, and preliminary sketches, some of which are also being scanned for the Internet. Katz emphasized that Herblock was a conscientious journalist, skewering both major political parties. He never retired, making frequent visits to the Post newsroom when he was in his 90s, to keep up with breaking stories.

"I am confident people will come away with a sharper appreciation of why Herblock was America's greatest cartoonist, its greatest defender of civil liberties, and its most effective fighter against tyranny and governmental and corporate abuses," said Haynes Johnson, a 25-year colleague of Herblock's at the Post.

On the Net:

Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov

Herblock archives: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/herblock/archives.htm