Life, 1920-09-16 · page 9 of 44
Life — September 16, 1920 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page satirizes political campaign photography practices. The cartoons mock how candidates stage "intimate" photos to appear relatable to voters. The top left shows a candidate photographed shocking wheat on his "little summer cottage"—presenting himself as a working farmer. The top right depicts a candidate posed with children to demonstrate "filial devotion" and family values. The center and bottom panels reference "Senator Sounder," who apparently staged a photo of himself "hanging out the family wash" to appear domestic. The final cartoon shows him milking a cow—suggesting politicians adopt false rural personas for campaign purposes. The satire critiques the artificiality of campaign imagery: candidates adopt costumes and manufactured scenarios to manipulate voters' perceptions of their character and relatability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE.- Campaign Photography The importance of intimate home-life photographs of candidates is tremendous. For example, every candidate claims to be a horny-handed son of toil—the farmer's friend ; but Senator Sounder, to back his claim, has this convincing photo of himself shocking wheat on the lawn of his litte summer cottage. No campaign is complete without a few pictures showing the candidate's innate love of children, The senator feels that this reveals more fully his courage, self-sacrifice, perse- verance and willingness to go to any end in order to be able to serve his country. Senator Sounder pulled a scoop on his rivals when he let the camera man catch him hanging out the family wash. Who, on seeing this homely domestic scene, will not say, “Here is the man hopefully to guide our Mex- ican policy to full comity and understanding ”? Here is a touching photo- graph of filial devotion: Senator Sounder with his father, aged eighty-two, and his grandfather, aged ninety- four. The old gentlemen heartily agree that their son —or grandson —is mentally quite below the average, and admirably fitted to be Presi dent. Gevray, | stint) Anyone who thinks that the President ought to know how to milk a cow will now have to admit that Senator Sounder is his man. The candidate is clad in his grandfather's jumper and his great-grandfather’s boots. The trousers, he reports, are his own. comicbooks.com