that it involves provincial power. >> terrific guests. william howell. thank you for all of your questions by phone and by tweets. also, on the facebook page. thanks for being with us. ♪

announcer: our series continues monday with brown versus board of education of topeka. in 19 54, the court rolled that separating schools of black and .hite was unconstitutional learn more about the case on onday night at 9:00 eastern c-span. you can learn more about c-span's landmark cases series by going to c-span.org/landmark cases. and you can also purchase c-span's "landmark cases" book. published by tony mauro.

is availablees" for a dollars $.95, plus shipping. voters in louisiana now have less than 30 minutes to cast their ballots in the governor's election of that state. state representative david facing hishis -- is democratic opponent. senator vitter's character and integrity have been called into question, citing a prostitution scandal in which david venter -- apologized. called hister "obamatic opponent an apologist." we hear from both candidates tonight and we will

bring you those remarks as soon as they are available, here on c-span. talk political cartoonists about their work and how the affectinghnology is them. then, the fda's process on precision medicine. now, political cartoonists talk at the national archives. political cartoonists talk about what inspires their work. this is 90 minutes. welcome to the 11th annual meeting. this is an appropriate time to discuss freedom of speech, communications, and political cartoons. how do political cartoons make a

difference. a can probably agree that picture is worth a thousand the pen ishat mightier than the sword. this can powerfully advance the argument of others and advance conversations. ben franklin published his timeless political cartoon, join or die. into segments,ut representing the divided colonies. metaphor became a first incry for unity the french and indian war and then during the political revolution -- the american revolution. freedom of expression must never be taken for granted. we recall the 12 people, including four prominent cartoonists, who were murdered

in the offices of the paris satirical weekly, "charlie hebdo." we wonder, are cartoon artists intimidated or energized by such violent responses? olvesht's program inv discussions of the artform for today and the future. with done in partnership the national archives. i have had the privilege of being a member for the fun -- of the fund since 2008. the mcallen fund was -- has been around since 2003. through its grant programs, this helps protects society's most vulnerable members. we support programs supporting food banks and clinics and help promoting initiatives.

since its inception, it has provided over $130 million in health care and research and education. mcgowan theater and in 2003, it honored his memory by providing the public archives the funds to build this theater. here, films are screened and important ideas are discussed. this forum was quickly added by the fund to supplement programming at the theater. 2008, the forum focused on spotlighting women in leadership. believed in a frank

and open exchange of ideas, and he loved to debate with his nieces and nephews, which we were tested on on a regular basis. only in such a democracy, could upstarts corporate at&t, whichrthrow had a virtual lock on phone services in 1982. a verdict in the federal district court affirmed his company's right to compete, and the at&t monopoly. history is repeating itself. it has paved the way for global advancements in information technology. our distinguished moderator will take full event is here to share perspectives here on the vibrant and vital process of political

cartoons. to yourorward conversation and the discussion to follow. thank you very much. [applause] good evening, it is a pleasure to welcome you officially to the national archives tonight. an official welcome to those of you joining us on c-span and honor youtube channel. since this year's topic is cartoons, i thought it would mention that some of the and -- the holdings of the national archives contain cartoons. we have thousands of archives of cartoons related to political events. -- oldeste oldest's political cartoons are in our presidential library. we have dutch cartoons from

1719, and thomas nast cartoons from the early 1800s, but most of the political cartoons are in the subject matter of dealing with the actual presidents. even and especially the leader of the free world is not immune from being skewered each morning from a morning a newspaper editorial list. -- with from the job the job. and as we see daily, it is probably something that is wanted with the job also. also what we have are the original pen and ink drawings from clifford barrowman -- barryman. he was one of washington's best-known and test political commentators in the first half of the 20th century.

he drew for "the post" and the "evening star" until his death. his cartoons touched on a variety of subjects, both world wars, and even washington weather. this is in titled the post season parade from 1915. it highlights the departure of lame-duck people from congress. the lame docs in this cartoon -- lame-ducks in this cartoon are democrats, heading to the white house, hoping to receive an appointment from president woodrow wilson. [laughter] our panel will be moderated by david tsipras. david went on to earn a masters in soviet history, and after two to pursue aed out

career as a cartoonist. in his words, "it may be strange, but it made perfect sense.i was able to -- i was able to combine my sense of humor with what i viewed in life." his first cartoon appeared in "the new yorker" in 1998, and he was "the new yorker's" daily cartoonist for a number of years. he has lectured on the art of the cartoon and he was the writer and host of conversations onh cartoonists, a series artists who work for the new yorker magazine. he has also published both fiction and nonfiction on "the , and aner" website

anount -- and that includes account of his family's experience of the kennedy assassination. and now i will turn the microphone over to david, our moderator, who will announce our panel. [applause] >> we salute the audience! [laughter] [applause] good evening, i am david cyprus, and i am moderatiing tonight. [applause] i asked them to put up this thomas nast drawing,

unfortunately, it is cut off at the bottom. this will give us a little context of the long history of cartooning in our country. i want you to look at this. tom, that is how you draw an elephant. [laughter] david t.: just a few words about what i am doing here. i am a "new yorker" cartoonist. being a "new yorker" cartoonist is tricky business, because we can't advocate directly for anything, we can't quite finger any political -- particular politician or policy, all we can really do is point to the reader and say, isn't that ridiculous? characterscovers, no cartoon.ew yorker" so i developed some strategies to deal with that.

one of those things is develop tropes, and one of those is the figure of the king to represent government itself or a particular politician. i have chosen one to show you tonight. it is one that i did back in the 2012 election. there was a lot of chatter about how the president would affect future generations, and how they would view his presidency. i am concerned about my legacy. [laughter] historian. [laughter] i had a little taste of this, as i mentioned, i was a daily cartoonist on "the new yorker" website, and i wrote a topical cartoon every day for two months.

camene thing that i really to appreciate is what it is like to deal with the in norma of information that you have to take in in order to come up with your ideas, and this cartoon was kind of a result of that. bedesire to eat -- to well-informed is at odds with my desire to be paid. what these guys do is cut through the noise and all information with the tools of words and pictures together, and conciseo some simple, truths to help us all figure out what is going on. and i'm going to show you some slides, you guys are probably going to kill me, but the question that you have asked so many times and we have bored you to death, it is not, where do you get your ideas? later, but i that

wonder if anybody would share their view on their role as a political cartoonist. is it to explain, is it to make people laugh, is it any combination of those? does anybody have anything to say about that? >> no. david t.: ok. [laughter] we are not going to be of answer every question by the way. [laughter] >> i think we are going to talk about it when we get to particular topics, because every cartoonist is different. you do different things in different cartoons and you make different points. the day after somebody blows up paris, a sympathy cartoon is a good idea, and yet, you are not doing sympathy cartoons all week long and then you are moving on to other things. right, then let's

go right onto the images. this first one is tom's. tom: do you want me to talk about it? [laughter] because the answer is "no." [laughter] david s.: i have one question, do you have a television all day where you sit at work? tom: yes, but i don't always watch it. i have a pretty good idea as to what is going on, and this cartoon, i sent this one along for the reason that, i mean, traditionally, what people look to a cartoon to do is, to a certain extent, analyzes a situation, and this one, i wanted to simplify a complicated situation in a complicated way. [laughter] say.that's all i have to [laughter] tom: no, the obvious idea is

that the benghazi hearings were not going according to the political agenda that republicans had set out for them to be, in other words, a big takedown of hillary, so the simple, shortest version of that is that it backfired on them, but there are simple are ways to do that then i chose to do. [laughter] cartoon that was a some people said they had to look at it for a while. [laughter] tom: because there are several things going on there. and you know, some things complicated simple is better than simple simple. and i think it is the complexity that got it all in there in a kind of engaging way. and if you look at it, it is a static image, but it is potentially alive with all

emotions and all kinds of consequences, so this is an example of complexity rendered complexly. david s.: i have an example of sorry, jen. jen: i just had a question. tom: oh. david s.: i was just surprised as to how cuddly your elephants are, you soften them. tom: it is the same sort of ,lement that fishermen uses they don't make the hook look sharp and horrible, like a high harpoon. [laughter] and i certainly enjoyed feel strongly about putting this element into my cartoons, but, i don't know, you have to make

choices as to how you present what you have to say. i mean, that is really half of the job. for me, i want my cartoons to personal way of being with information and i just feel if you make it look sweet and nonthreatening, and does it invite you in rather than stiff arms you away? sudden you find yourself and mashed in my world, and then you discover, there is a hook in their. -- there. [laughter] been s.: i have always interested in your little biographical tom toles in the right-hand corner. what are you thinking about it when you write it?

the thought, initially, was the thought derived from pat all oliphant, who to me is the watershed of political cartooning, and he hates me to this day for coining that, and heme that is perfect because invested in it and it was so personal, and it seemed like it was off-limits. library, i wasa looking through early 20th century american cartooning, and i found out this marginal commentary was part of the -- andand and i thought i thought, i would give it a try . i put myself in a personally. it is a drawing board.

david s.: do you have any way of putting yourself in the cartoon and giving a second opinion? tom: yes, it is just another dimension. when i draw cartoons and sketches, i always draw them without that in mind. take that away, the cartoon is designed to work without it. a lot of the times, i will get to the end of the day, and i won't have that part, and that often turns out to be the hardest part of the cartoon. this is just another way to personalize it, add another thought, and sometimes it reinforces the main thought, and sometimes it cuts the other way. i want -- i mean, political cartoons are very much the opinion of the cartoonist himself or herself, and i just wanted to make it clear that

there is a person, not just a cartoon, there is somebody behind it, trying it, and this person has their own thoughts, their own take, and it is me, and i am not ashamed or especially proud of it, that is just the way it is, so that is why i am there. ivid s.: all right, signe, agree to show one of yours now, and you said that this is a cartoon that only a woman could do. signe: this was done many years ago before recent discussion of [indiscernible] comes back into discussion. david s.: get ready, everybody. [laughter] wait a minute! i was going to read it for you.

[laughter] --ne: your speechless you'reessyou're there -- speechless. tom: yes. david s.: i am speechless. we agree in this particular field, there are only a few do you feelnists, that there is a political obligation or calling about women trying to make these kind of issues? signe: no. if you look at the number of cartoons i have drawn in the 35 years of cartooning, i have --wn a lot of women put women, but i have also drawn a lot of men. equal payvarious issues, and actually, one of the

reasons i wanted to get into cartooning was i was sick of having all the men draw cartoons. this was back when the women's movement was just getting started. maybe womenng, could dry few of those cartoons. if you could leave these ideas at the door and just run these cartoons, anyway, it has been a privilege to do it. when i got started in my first full-time job, which is defined as having one with health benefits, there were about five applyingen cartoonist for the job. ,oday, there is no one actually, in a full-time, paid position, for women. there are many fewer men. when women's issues come up, i want to draw about them, definitely.

but it is not the thing i draw about most. i consider myself a generalist, so i don't draw exclusively about gender, and at the same time, i feel it is something that i am constantly aware of, and possibly more aware of than some people who have been in the field. there are many male feminist cartoonists out there. but i think just through life experiences, there are some perspectives that you bring to the table, that there is no one monolithic female perspective, of course. but you do at the conversation things there are certain in life experiences that you are just going to bring to the cartoon. cartoons --table of i do a fair number of cartoons, but at the same time, i don't mind being identified as a woman cartoonist.

to have more women in the media, you have to be conscious of that. you can't just sweep it under the table and say, we are going to ignore that. but again, i do view myself as a generalist. it is not my exclusive niche. signe: a lot of my hate mail -- dearith, "dear woman jen." [laughter] signe: it is amazing how many men think i am a scandinavian ex-pat named jen sorensen. keith, do you want to cover this next one? sure, it is how to discern an innocent gesture from a gang sides -- gang sign.

[laughter] david s.: you originally, you come at a sort of comic strip background. did you always do political commentary, or did this sort of develop over time? it was always a part of my repertoire, it was part of me in college. my first lack professor i had was in college -- first black professor i had was in college, and he was in english literature professor. his name was professor gerald. professor gerald, he was amazing. he gave us for a reading assignment, he gave us james mayain, mayor angelou -- king, allartin luther

of these different books, all of these different writers, and when somebody brought it up to him that they were all black writers, he said to them, they are all american writers. whoi thought, in my head, a, that was so cool. comics thatnt from were funny to comics that meant something. towhen i got the opportunity do it, you know, i had always been influenced by not just stuff like calvin aren't pops -- calvin and hobbes and peanuts, comics.r it was always great to find extra cartoons off of the comics page or the editorial page or the classified section or at a love tell

sometimes he had panels or he didn't have panels, and he would do comics just about a lot of different things. not only was it something i liked to do, when i would cover anything i liked to talk about, but this was coming at a time when i really wanted to do a strip that represented me. in the early 90's as a hip-hop , the only people i saw who were into hip-hop were gang members and hoodlums and stuff like that. no, most people that i knew who are into hip-hop were smart and politically aware. they were you know, into nerdy stuff, so it was important to bring this is ability to the comics stage. david s.: one thing i noticed about your work, and it is like tom a's little corner of his work,