Date Original
1946-1996
Description
This collection contains one caricature of Jon Kennedy drawn by cartoonist George Fisher, a 1979 letter to Jon Kennedy from former Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus, one photocopy of an article in the Arkansas Democrat about Jon Kennedy, one photograph of Jon Kennedy, one copy of Jon Kennedy's book of political cartoons, and 10 original cartoons on illustration board primarily drawn with ink and graphite. It also contains several photocopies of his cartoons.
Biographical/Historical Note
Jon Kennedy was a cartoonist who worked for the Arkansas Democrat for 47 years. He was born in Springfield, Missouri, on August 19, 1918. He began his career while he was still in high school at the Springfield Leader-Press newspaper as a staff artist. He became an editorial cartoonist for the Arkansas Democrat in Little Rock, Arkansas, in August of 1941. In 1943 during World War II, Kennedy enlisted in the Army. He was discharged in 1946, but during his time in the military he drew training materials and created cartoons for posters and camp newspapers. His final cartoon in the Democrat appeared on September 16, 1988. He was semi-retired for a short period, but returned to cartooning in 1992 for Arkansas Business. He eventually retired again in 2005 due to vision problems. In addition to his newspaper work, Kennedy maintained a graphic arts and poster business called Jon Kennedy Cartoons from 1963 to 1992, where he distributed "Dropout Blues" posters to schools and libraries nationally to reduce school dropout rates. Kennedy joined the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists in 1957 as a charter member and published a book of cartoons "Look Back and Laugh" in 1978. He was recognized as "Arkansas Journalist of the Year" in 1988. He and his wife, Opal Dillon Kennedy, had two sons. Kennedy died on October 10, 2014.
Physical Description
Document, 8.5" x 11"
Geographical Area
Arkansas
Language
English
Identifier
MS.000935
Resource Type
Text
Collection
Jon B. Kennedy political cartoon collection, MS.000935
Publisher
Arkansas State Archives
Contributing Entity
Arkansas State Archives
Recommended Citation
Jon B. Kennedy political cartoon collection, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rights
Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.
Disciplines
United States History
