Life — March 28, 1918 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 504 This page satirizes President Wilson's discomfort with an anti-Semitic statement from Form 64, a War Department manual instructing Medical Advisory Boards. The form claimed "foreign born, and especially Jews, are more apt to malinger than the native born." The cartoon titled "Historic Hoys" (captioned "Grueless Humor") depicts a caricatured figure in a doorway—likely representing either the manual's author or Wilson himself—shown in an exaggerated, undignified posture. The satire mocks the absurdity and prejudice of the official document. The accompanying text argues that despite Wilson's quick correction, the statement reflects genuine attitudes about Jewish immigrants being allegedly prone to malingering and criminal behavior—stereotypes the author challenges as false and damaging to national institutions.