Watergate and comedy
Sep. 18th, 2025 10:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fabrisseGather 'round, children. As an elder of the tribe, I must remind you of history, and the perspectives it can provide.
https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1973/05/29
The above link goes to what is probably the most famous Doonesbury cartoon of all time. Many papers refused to run it. Many that did run it, put it on the editorial page rather than the comics page. The Washington Post ran an editorial about why it didn't run it. It was controversial because it violated the presumption of innocence for John Mitchell. Many papers cancelled Doonesbury, though most who didn't run it, just skipped that day.
And that was it. It was well known that President Nixon hated Doonesbury and, by extension, Garry Trudeau, but he didn't demand any retribution.
Watergate was a punchline. It was a punchline for Flip Wilson who ran at 8 p.m. on Thursdays. It was a punchline for local radio DJs. It was a punchline for Johnny Carson (who was scathing in some of his monologues). And no one got cancelled, suspended, or disappeared for the jokes, whether good or bad.
When Gerald Ford came into office in late 1974, he said [perhaps slightly paraphrased], "In Washington, we get our news from intelligence briefings, The Washington Post, and Doonesbury -- not necessarily in that order."
It never occurred to me that I would look back on the violent and discordant early 1970s as "the halcyon days." Still, say what you will against Richard Nixon, he believed in the Constitution and he understood all the amendments.
https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1973/05/29
The above link goes to what is probably the most famous Doonesbury cartoon of all time. Many papers refused to run it. Many that did run it, put it on the editorial page rather than the comics page. The Washington Post ran an editorial about why it didn't run it. It was controversial because it violated the presumption of innocence for John Mitchell. Many papers cancelled Doonesbury, though most who didn't run it, just skipped that day.
And that was it. It was well known that President Nixon hated Doonesbury and, by extension, Garry Trudeau, but he didn't demand any retribution.
Watergate was a punchline. It was a punchline for Flip Wilson who ran at 8 p.m. on Thursdays. It was a punchline for local radio DJs. It was a punchline for Johnny Carson (who was scathing in some of his monologues). And no one got cancelled, suspended, or disappeared for the jokes, whether good or bad.
When Gerald Ford came into office in late 1974, he said [perhaps slightly paraphrased], "In Washington, we get our news from intelligence briefings, The Washington Post, and Doonesbury -- not necessarily in that order."
It never occurred to me that I would look back on the violent and discordant early 1970s as "the halcyon days." Still, say what you will against Richard Nixon, he believed in the Constitution and he understood all the amendments.
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Date: 2025-09-18 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-21 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-18 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-21 05:58 pm (UTC)We really are in the stupidest timeline.