Conclusion

America without a doubt is the most diverse country in the world. Our history may be short, however, our country has evolved like no other. Leaders specifically shaped the way our country still progress today. With the help of art and commuincation people can spread ideas about those leaders both optimistically and pesimistically. Abraham Lincoln restarted our country on the right foot. Without his intial act to end slavery, no one might have taken the initiative. Yet we still look back and analyze his leadership skill to value and use them in todays day in age. Nearly a hundred years later appears John F. Kennedy as president. The country's approval rating remained high throughout the duration of his presidency causing his legacy to become even stronger. He handled the Cold War with carefullness and consideration bringing our country to eventually peace with what is now Russia. Without J.F.K the United States could not have such strong ties with Russia in minimizing global fossil fuel emissions and exploring the world of alternative energy sources with Obama. Obama, the countries first African-American president of the United States, proves the progress since the times of Abraham Lincoln. The country has clearly evolved; the art has as well. Through the worst of the times, viewers see dark humor within the cartoons; in todays economic crisis the element adds to almost every cartoon. With more experience comes more complexity; that is how our art has developed as well. The artists included deepers issues that have to deal more with advances in time such as technology, than in the times of the Civil War. With our world rapidly expanding in every facet in life, art bounds to still exist and grow along with the world. Through the exploration of political art the evolution of not only human commuinication but the title of president and all the name carries emphasises just how unique what the United States of America will continue to stand for.

The Face of Our Five Dollar Bill: Abraham Lincoln

One of the many presidents born in a log cabin, Abraham Lincoln is still patronized for his important effects on the United States that still exist to this day. The decisions he made surrounding the Civil War and slavery practically restarted the United States to a country of freedom and democracy. Without his presidency, our country would not stand in the sturdy foundation laid by one of our founding father, Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. His parents were farmers and young Lincoln was raised learning how to farm. It was then when his family relocated due to his parents fear of losing their land claim, they relocated to Indiana. Indiana at the time was a free state, meaning there were no slaves. Unfortunately, his relationship with his father was strained and young Lincoln did not even attend his funeral. After his father's death however, Lincoln and his family moved to Illinois where he experience a variety of jobs. Moreover, he was elected to lead a militia during the Black Hawk's War, even though his company saw no battle.

During his time in New Salem, Lincoln started to fuse his mind into politics and law. He became eligible to practice law in 1836, and won candidacy to be legislature. Lincoln established himself as a Whig who followed to teachings of Henry Clay, a popular politician who believed in the "American System". In 1841 however, Lincoln retired from state legislature and open a law practice with Stephan Logan. After he had earned a considerable amount of money and his law practice had diminished, Lincoln ran for Congress and was elected in 1846. Then after various years of campaigning, Lincoln finally won his presidency. Between his election and inauguration seven of the "Deep South" had succeeded from the nation due to the fast the Lincoln had now become a Republican, one who at the time did not support slavery. The spark that began the fire was the battle at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, beginning the Civil War.

President Barack Obama

Americans all over the country celebrated when President Barack Obama become the first African American President in 2009. The progress of African Americans from slaves to presidency shows how America has changed. The representation of change can not only be seen in politics but art as well.

Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Unlike Kennedy, Obama did not come from a wealthy family. Barack Obama Sr., his father, was born in Kenya, Africa and grew up goat herding with his father. However, he went on to receive a scholarship and proceeded to Hawaii. His mother, Ann Duhman, grew up in Kansas and went on to attend the same college as Obama Sr.. Obama's parents unfortunately split when he was just 2 years old. Obama Sr. continued onto Harvard while his mother married another college student then moved to Jakarta. Obama grew up there, having to take classes taught in Indonesian. It was only 4 years later when he returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. Obama was one of only 3 African Americans who attended his school. Obama went on to study at Colombia University graduating with a degree in political science in 1983. He continued on to study at Harvard Law school becoming the first African American to be elected for the Harvard Law Review. Graduating magna cum laude in 1991, Obama had just began his political journey.

He became a civil rights lawyer, and soon ran for Illinois State Senate. Winning, Obama worked with democrats and republicans to draft legislation on ethics, expand health care services and enforce an early childhood education programs for the poor. After the war in Iraq had begun, Obama decided to run for U.S Senate; he won with a 52% vote against businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes. From there he didactically arose awareness of avian flu, victims of Hurricane Katrina, and alternative energy sources. In 2007, he announced that he was running for president. Through many rumors and racial slurs through his campaign Obama was able to show his perseverance and reach his acme, becoming the 44th president of the United States.

In today's time, President Barack Obama has been criticized immensely on his performance as president. He faces the recession, health care, the war in Afghanistan, and alternative energy sources all of which he can not mend in a short time.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

Kennedy mainly dealt with issues surrounding the Cold war. In 1961, he gave approval to the CIA to use Cuban exiles to overthrow then Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba. In April the CIA arrived in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba to attempt setting of a general uprising. The mission however, was a failure and the CIA members were forced to surrender. This event strengthened the tensions between the United States and Cuba ultimately affecting the tensions with the Soviet Union.

Subsequently, the Cuban leader Castro was upset with the United States. Furthermore causing the Cuban missile crisis, which was also in the midst of the Cold War. The whole situation was based on the fear of one country taking over the other. The U.S discovered that the Russians were building underground sites in Cuba to launch missiles to the United States. The missiles, subsequently, could reach the United States in just minutes.

As the country began to panic, Kennedy announced that he was setting up a naval blockade of Cuba until the Soviets and Cubans had removed the weapons. A blockade stops any shipments in the blockade are and is considered an act of war. During this time period, the threat of nuclear war seemed likely. If the Soviet ships had challenged the United States blockade in fact, the American public believed it certain to call for nuclear war. Measures such as schools having bombing drills even had been taken. Days had gone by when the Soviet leader Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in Cuba on a plea that Kennedy not invade the island nation.

Although the Cuban Missile Crisis was a scare for many Americans, the situation ended more positively than not, especially for President Kennedy. By contacting the Soviets during such a crisis meant that both the United States and the Soviet Union could commerce openly, vital for being future allies. The Soviet Union, the United States, and almost one hundred other countries signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, outlawing the test of Nuclear Bombs in the Atmosphere in 1963.

Political Cartoons Surrounding Abraham Lincoln

The civil war marked a period in time when the country was in turmoil. Lincoln's main goal was to preserve the Union. The country that once was however, had split into two. The Confederacy, consisting of Southern most states, and the Union consisting of Northern most states. The South feared that slavery would be abolished and then the farmers would not be able to compete with the slowly industrializing North. During the war, the Confederacy lacked money, forcing the government to issue 1 billion dollars in inflationary paper money, ultimately decreasing the value of the Confederate dollar. The Confederacy also had 1 million troops at its peak. The Union used strategies such as a naval blockade of Southern ports, taking control of the Mississippi River, and to raise an army of 500,000 to take over their capital, Richmond. The civil war was fought in 10,000 places and took the lives of 3 million people, 2% of the population at the time. In the cartoon above, Lincoln and the vice president are attempting to fix the United States. The caption calls repairing the Union "rail splitting" because of how much chaos the country went through to become a nation again.

At the start of the Civil War, slavery was not the chief reason violence began. As the war progressed however, the fact of the issue was that slavery needed to be ended to bring the country back together. In July 1962 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Using his powers commander in chief of the armed forces, he freed all the slave in the states at war with the United States (the Confederacy). Lincoln called the plan a "military necessity" , and the document is monumental to our freedom today. This committed the United States to ending slavery in the whole country, and with that every Union advance, the slaves would become free. The cartoon above shows the difficulty that some northerners had with training the African-American troops. Not all northerners thought highly of African-Americans and for that reason the Union soldiers did not take them seriously. By observing the caricatured faces of the African-Americans, one can imply the stupidity and lower status that was still thought to be intertwined into their culture, even though they had become free.

One of the greatest presidents our country has had was assassinated on April 14, 1865. While watching a play at the Ford's theater in Washington with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth shot the then president point blank range in the neck. The president died 3 days later. The country was stunned and infuriated the north. Lincoln's leadership will never be forgotten as well as his clear judgment which truly reflects what American is founded on.

Political Cartoons Surrounding President Obama

President Obama faces an array of problems in our modern times. In this cartoon, the "party crashers" and the smaller man on the white house states, is all of Obama's challenges. The party crashers are larger, signifying the importance of the problems and how large each problem presents it self. The party party crashers represent Obama's challenge the economy, Afghan War, and a new Health Care Bill.

The war in Iraq began when President Bush declared war on them during his presidency. Previously, the United States had been Alli's with Iraq even under their dictator, Saddam Hussein. The United States even provided weapons for the dictator, who killed thousands of his own people. The United States however, began to realize that Saddam Hussein needed to be taken out of power. When September 11, 2001 occurred, with the Twin Towers collapsing, the United States felt that this was the time to eliminate Saddam Hussein. At the time then Senator Obama opposed the war and found no sense going into combat with them due to the fact that 9/11 had not been proven to be a plan schemed by the Iraqi's. During the Bush Administration however, the United States attempted setting up a democracy in Iraq. Now it would seem senseless to pull out of Iraq because then the progress would disappear, but staying does not promise any progress as well. The cartoon above depicts this situation. The two characters walking by are talking and say "The White House is changing their policy", as a man changes the marker to "We can't leave Iraq because it's going ... Well". Obama receives much criticism on his decisions on Iraq for this very purpose. Recently he announced that he will be sending more troops in hope of starting to deploy them back to the United States by 2011.

Another topic among the American people and politician's, including Obama, is his decision to release the detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo Bay stands as a American detainment camp in Cuba, used for prisoners captured in Afghanistan. President Obama wants to close the camp down for numerous reason. First off, the detainees that are held in Guantanamo Bay are not on American soil, therefore they do not hold the same rights as an American. Previously, the detainees were also brutally tortured during the Bush administration. Some detainees have been in the prison for over 7 years and have not seen trial yet because they are not on American soil. Obama's proposal is that he wants to move them to a prison in Thomson, Illinois. The people of Thomson do not show fear and have faith that the detainees will not escape. Other political figures strongly disagree with Obama's proposal because they think closing Guantanamo, also known as Gitmo, poses dangerous situations for the American people. The cartoon to the left shows Uncle Sam, a political symbol of the United States, pondering about human rights. He muses "Human rights? What human rights... I can't see a problem.", as the detainees (depicting Gitmo) stay trapped inside his hat. The cartoon shows how some political figures of the United States see the ending of the prison facility. Although the detainees have been captured, is it fair to hold them without any proof or without and trial? President Obama's decision in the future can only spark more political art and disagreement.

President Obama was recently rewarded the Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian Nobel Committee. Only after 12 days in office he was rewarded the prize. Obama was "deeply humbled" by prize, and he did not expect it. Obama received a lot of mean criticism for his commendation because he had not "done anything" yet. The Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized Obamas efforts to solve complex global problems, including working toward a world free of nuclear weapons, especially in Iran. The cartoon above mocks his award because of the fact that he sent more troops to Afghanistan as well. His decision to send more troops goes back to the vacillating problem of whether occupying the middle east will help our relations.

Political Cartoons Surrounding President Kennedy

This cartoon depicts President John F. Kennedy and the vice President at the time trying to contain "nuclear war". The nuclear war, depicted by the artist, clearly shows signs of having monster like qualities. The monster like qualities can represent how dangerous nuclear war could have been if Kennedy had not made the smart decisions he made. The cartoon also shows the president panting "GET A LOCK FOR THIS THING", showing how much of a struggle the United States government administration had to deal with during the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis.

"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put up a wall to keep our people in... As a free man, I take pride in the words, 'Ich bin ein Berliners' (I am a Berliner)"

Although President Kennedy had to discern vital decisions concerning the Soviets and Cubans, he also did have to deal with more positive situations. The Berlin Wall was located in West Berlin and was built by the East Germans. The wall symbolized gloom during to Cold War because it was built to keep the East Germans from going to West Germany. With President Kennedy's help however, the wall was torn down. This event marked as a monumental achievement for the world, and the falling of the wall is still celebrated today. In this cartoon, the older figure is recollecting the rise and fall of the Berlin wall. He states "You'll never guess what this use to be, son...", commentating on the Berlin Wall's pointless existence.

Kennedy was credited with being a very "pretty boy" during his presidency. In fact, his wife and him achieved an almost celebrity status. In this caricature, his hair and facial bones are exaggerated to emphasis his "good looks". Till this day, scandels and rumors still roam around about the Kennedy family and John F. Kennedy's first lady.

Sadly on November 22, 1963 in Dallas Texas John F. Kennedy was shot while riding in a parade. Americans were stunned and saddened after only experiencing Kennedy's president for 2 and a half yaers. Later the killer was identified as Lee Harvey Oswald. Kennedy's legend and presidency will be remembered for his couragous efforts towards the end of the Cold War, falling of Berlin, and elequent rhetoric in the 1960's and 1970's.