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Photo, Print, Drawing Strange case of the purloined letter

[ digital file from intermediary roll film copy ]

Full online access to this resource is only available at the Library of Congress.

About this Item

Title

  • Strange case of the purloined letter

Summary

  • Cartoon shows Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, Attorney General Francis Biddle, former Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie, and presidential assistant Harry Hopkins dressed like Sherlock Holmes in deer stalker hats, examining footprints in the snow that are headed toward the White House and then veer off to the Interior Department. Ickes says, "Quick, Watson, the needle! Something's gone awry." In a minor political scandal in the winter of 1943-44, C. Nelson Sparks reported in a book attacking Willkie that Hopkins had written a letter implying the support of the Roosevelt Administration for another Willkie presidential candidacy in 1944. Hopkins denied writing the letter, and Senator William Langer charged that it had actually been written at the instigation of Ickes, a long-time Hopkins foe. Ickes denied his involvement and testified before a grand jury. Berryman has fun here invoking several classic mystery stories. Sherlock Holmes relieved his tensions by injecting cocaine and the needle quote is the famous last line from the 1939 film, The Hound of the Baskervilles with Basil Rathbone. The caption alludes to Edgar Allan Poe's story The Purloined Letter.

Names

  • Berryman, Clifford Kennedy, 1869-1949, artist

Created / Published

  • 1944 Jan. 20.

Headings

  • -  Hopkins, Harry Lloyd,--1890-1946
  • -  Willkie, Wendell L.--(Wendell Lewis),--1892-1944
  • -  Biddle, Francis,--1886-1968
  • -  Ickes, Harold L.--(Harold LeClair),--1874-1952
  • -  Poe, Edgar Allan,--1809-1849.--Purloined letter
  • -  United States.--Dept. of the Interior--1940-1950
  • -  Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character)--1940-1950
  • -  Governmental investigations--United States--1940-1950

Format Headings

  • Drawings.
  • Editorial cartoons--American.

Genre

  • Editorial cartoons--American
  • Drawings

Notes

  • -  Probably published in: The Evening star (Washington, D.C.)
  • -  (DLC/PP-1945:R2.325)
  • -  mm / 860122; ljr / 021121.
  • -  Sources: New York times, Jan. 18, 1944, p. 15; Jan. 19, p. 17, Jan. 20, p. 1; Jan. 21, p. 12; Jan. 25, p. 12; Bunson, Encyclopedia Sherlockiana, p. 52 ljr

Medium

  • 1 drawing.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • CD 1 - Berryman (C.K.), no. 343 (A size)

Source Collection

  • Cartoon Drawings (Library of Congress)

Repository

Digital Id

  • acd 2a06045 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/acd.2a06045

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2016678638

Rights Advisory

  • May be restricted: Information on reproduction rights available in LC P&P Restrictions Statement.

Online Format

  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

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  • Rights Advisory: May be restricted: Information on reproduction rights available in LC P&P Restrictions Statement.
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: CD 1 - Berryman (C.K.), no. 343 (A size)
  • Access Advisory: ---

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Berryman, Clifford Kennedy, Artist. Strange Case of the Purloined Letter. United States, 1944. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2016678638/.

APA citation style:

Berryman, C. K. (1944) Strange Case of the Purloined Letter. United States, 1944. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/2016678638/.

MLA citation style:

Berryman, Clifford Kennedy, Artist. Strange Case of the Purloined Letter. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/2016678638/>.