The old year, personified as melancholy Father Time, casts a regretful glance back as he departs, haunting the background of this cartoon. In the foreground, Baby New Year looks down at a family warming themselves by a tiny fire in the ruins of a war-ravaged house.
Reporting in
The Evening Star indicated that Europe was in disarray and that 1919 must be a year of rebuilding. This cartoon shows the post-war devastation of Europe and hints at the unprecedented responsibility America faced in establishing peacetime stability. An article printed on the same page as this cartoon stated, “The nations are still in turmoil. New states have been born, age-old national aspirations have been awakened. Old states are in chaos.”
This cartoon was drawn by Clifford Berryman, one of Washington, DC's best-known cartoonists in the early to mid-1900s. Berryman drew for the
Washington Post and
Evening Star newspapers. His cartoons touched on a variety of subjects including politics, elections, and both World Wars.
This cartoon is featured in America and the World: Foreign Affairs in Political Cartoons, 1898–1940,
a free PDF book from the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives. This primary source comes from the Records of the U.S. Senate .
National Archives Identifier:
6011542Full Citation: Cartoon L-056; Some Job; 1/1/1919; Berryman Political Cartoon Collection, 1896-1949; Records of the U.S. Senate , Record Group 46 ; National Archives Building, Washington DC, 20408. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/some-job, May 9, 2024]