Seeing History through Comic Strips: 1970s Doonesbury by Gary Trudeau
A part of me can’t believe that the 1970s are considered history, but it’s been 50 years, and that’s how it is. When I was in school, 50 years ago was the 1920s and 1930s, even though that was the part of the history textbook that we never reached during the school year (unless you read ahead like I… uh…I mean… like the nerds did). So, yeah, I guess my childhood period is historic now.
Doonesbury, a comic strip by Gary Trudeau syndicated in the 1970s, started off on the funnies page like every other comic strip but was often so political that many newspapers switched it to their editorial pages instead. Looking back at it now, it’s kind of fun to see how the creator/artist of this daily comic strip portrayed what are now historical events while they happened.
I wasn’t a Doonesbury reader until the 1980s, and the first political sequence that I remember in the Doonesbury newspaper strip at the time was the investigation (or exploration of) President Reagan’s brain. The portrayal wasn’t flattering, of course, and I think that one ticked off a lot of Republican leaning newspapers, but that’s a different issue. The point is that I was in elementary school in the 1970s. I vaguely remember stuff like Watergate, the Vietnam War, and gas lines, but I was a little young to read Doonesbury.
Still, I liked these comic strips a lot when I first read them in a book collection (pictured above) in high school, and with all the crazy stuff going on now, it’s important to remember that this isn’t the first time that crazy stuff has been going on. The 1970s were crazy too, maybe even crazier, but that’s subjective, and I understand if people disagree and think today’s crazier time is worse. Anyway, here are some issues that were portrayed in 1970s Doonesbury.
THE VIETNAM WAR
Some of the early strips might seem a little too flippant or light hearted by today’s standards, but keep in mind that Doonesbury was new and Trudeau was finding his groove. Haha! Groove. That sounds dated.
Episodes/strips months later like the pair below are probably more tone appropriate for the subject matter.
WATERGATE
When I was in elementary school, I hated Watergate because the hearings were always on all three television networks in the afternoon and preempted my 3:30 cartoons. I appreciate the significance of Watergate now, but I still blame Nixon for the disruption of my after school cartoons. And I also blame Woodward. And Bernstein. And the Ivy League too while I’m at it.
GAS SHORTAGES
What’s worse than high gas prices? How about high gas prices accompanied by gas shortages. That’s what the ugly 1970s had. I don’t remember gas lines, but I remember my mom complaining about the gas prices. She flipped out when gas hit $1a gallon. $1 a gallon? Back then $1 bought me three comic books and a candy bar every Saturday morning after chores. Today? $4 doesn’t even get me a comic book! What a rip-off!
PROTESTING
There’s a lot of protesting going on today, but that’s nothing new. Protesting was a big thing in the 1960s and early 1970s too, so much that protesters were getting shot in cities and on college campuses, but protests seemed to become less of a thing after the Vietnam War and Watergate (I’m not sure if there were Watergate protests).
I always appreciate orderly protests, but other people think that you need to create a disturbance or disruption to get anything changed. I understand that too, but when I’m stuck in traffic because of a protest and I really have to use the bathroom, I automatically despise the protesters, even when I used to agree with the cause.
NIXON’S RESIGNATION
Nixon resigning and leaving office didn’t stick with me because it didn’t preempt my afternoon cartoons. Or maybe I wasn’t watching cartoons anymore. I might have been reading more comic books or been outside riding my bike or even skateboarding for a while.
At any rate, I think that brick wall was metaphorical. I mean, I could see that happening now or during future presidencies, but I don’t think it happened during Nixon’s. I almost didn’t post the strip below. I don’t want to give current (or future) politicians any ideas.
ECONOMICS
When it comes to economics, nobody really knows what he or she is talking about. Even economists are wrong about stuff all the time. It’s nice to see that back in the 1970s, federal spending was an issue. A lot of people agree that the federal government spends too much money, but then everyone disagrees about how much to cut and where to cut and what to do with the money that’s cut and how you account for the money that’s cut, even though the cut rarely happens.
And in the late 1980s, the U.S. had high inflation AND high interest rates. I think there was something called ‘stagflation’ too. And a ‘national malaise’ that led the public to elect Ronald Reagan. I might see if I can find Doonesbury books for those particular years too.
DISILLUSIONMENT
I think the strip below came out only five years after Doonesbury started running, and the characters are already disillusioned. They ask themselves, what happened to them? Haha! That’s what a lot of Gen Zers and Millenials want to know. When you think of yourselves as the best and the brightest, or you’ve been told repeatedly that you’re the best and the brightest, you’re bound to have disappointments along the way.
I’m Generation X (okay, I think identifying people by their generation is stupid, but it’s kind of fun), I was told by society that I was a slacker. That could be why I don’t think I’m that disillusioned now. I had lower expectations. Today, I read my books. I have a blog. I’m fine with it.
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Enough about me! What do you think? Are you disillusioned? Do you see the 1970s and 1980s as history? Do you think the times today are crazier than ever, or have the times always been crazy? Should Doonesbury have been on (or should be on) the funnies page or the editorial page? Is identifying people by their generation stupid? Leave a comment below!
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For more, see…
The Comic Book/Comic Strip Home Page
Jack Kirby: The True Creator of the Marvel Universe?
Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts, and the Five-Minute Birthday Party
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Gary Trudeau created one of the most popular syndicated comic strips of all time. I have a blog and one self-published novel. That’s it. Like I said earlier, I’m fine with it.
A grammar-obsessed English teacher falls in ‘luuuvvv’ but discovers how chaotic and dangerous ‘luuuvvv’ can really be. It’s a romantic comedy from an ‘average’ guy’s point of view!
The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy is now available on Amazon!
Dysfunctional Literacy 
The 70s might have seemed crazy relative to what came before. The things Nixon did were unprecedented. But today is even crazier relative to what came before. The things the current administration is doing are also unprecedented, but the envelope continues to be pushed farther and farther. One major difference is the opinion of the public. If you go back to video of public opinion during the 70s, most everyone was saying that Nixon should be held accountable for any illegal or unethical acts he committed. Public opinion today is clearly split, with half the country wanting accountability and the other half justifying the actions of the current adminstration. Things like legality and ethics are too infrequently part of the conversation. That’s a big difference between now and the 70s, and a big problem.
I agree that things can seem crazier today than things were back then, but there was a lot of crazy stuff going on back then that newspapers and the three networks (PBS didn’t count. Haha!) didn’t have space or time to cover, so the public wasn’t aware of a bunch of stuff. I’d rather have more of the craziness out in the open, like it is now. I can make better decisions that way (if I have the time to think about things).
I am not sure if Trudeau made the best use of the medium. Many of the comics are just talking heads or even talking, static buildings.
I’m not sure that I know what you mean. If you read each strip in isolation without any context, stuff like the talking building might not make sense (if that’s what you mean). But if you were reading the strip every day in the newspaper and were familiar with current events, then you usually knew who was speaking to whom in the White House every strip.
I can understand Doonesbury because I’m familiar with most of what happened in the 1970s, even though I was in elementary school for a lot of it.
When I read a strip like Pogo from the 1950s, though, I have almost no understanding of the references, and I get a headache reading it.
Oh, just my personal recollection of the comic is that sometimes, the entire comic would be one or two guys making the same expression with minimal changes between panels, the main item of interest being the text in the speech and thought bubbles. I have no qualms with the messaging and political context; these were in the newspaper every Sunday, after all.
I really just mean that comics are a visual, imagery-based medium, and sometimes, Doonesbury simply does not or cannot take full advantage of it.
I think I understand what you meant now. AAaaarrrgh! I over explained for nothing, haha!