5 months ago • 26 notes“The strong man of India” was drawn by “Ding” Darling for the New York Herald Tribune just after Mahatma Gandhi was arrested during the “Quit India” Movement (1942).
It implies that Gandhi wanted to blindly tear down 100 years of “building for India”- a charitable act by the British, indeed. Notice the ghoulish, dark caricature of Gandhi.
This cartoon was not the only one portraying India’s struggle in unflattering light. A wide swathe of American newspapers supported the British as they sought to quell the Indian movement for Independence. This loyalty has always flabbergasted me. The United States was founded on the principle of “inalienable rights,” against the tyranny of the British Empire; the War of 1812 was fought by the US against the British; and the British were poised ever ready to support the South in case the Union was dismembered during the Civil War.
