Drawing Fire: Political Cartoons of the Iranian Revolution in the United States

Because of their ephemeral nature political cartoons often express the base and populist emotions of a given community at a specific moment in time.  Early in 2006, for example, political cartoons published in a Danish newspaper containing images of the Prophet Mohammad reflected the western fear of radical Islamic militarism and caused uproar in many Muslim communities.  However, this was not the first time that Islamic fundamentalism has been the subject of such populist reductionism.  During the 444 days of the Iran hostage crisis, newspapers in the United States regularly ran cartoons that represented Iranian revolutionaries as irrational and bloodthirsty.  Invariably, the cartoons contained demonic portrayals of the Ayatollah Khomeini juxtaposed with the innocent, suffering, brutalized hostages.  The cartoons gave no consideration to the context or historical forces that drove the revolution.  They also gave stark representations of the emasculating effects of the crisis on United States' global standing.  In sum, the cartoons embodied the base hopes, fears, and concerns of the American people during the crisis.  This poster will display some of the more visually arresting cartoons published in the U.S.  It will offer a representative sample of the cartoons that best illustrate the main themes and sentiments expressed.  The poster will also provide textual analysis and historical background to the events depicted in the cartoons.   The poster should encourage AHA participants to look at the depictions of other cultures in everyday media and provoke them to incorporate political cartoons into their pedagogy.