Makemson presents
research at AEJMC

Harlen Makemson, assistant professor of communications, presented "Neither Drunkards nor Libertines: Portraying Grover Cleveland as a Threat to the Family in Political Cartoons During the 1884 Campaign," at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention in Kansas City, Mo., in August.

The research paper explored how artists attempted to portray Cleveland's personal and private behavior as scandalous. Makemson found that cartoonists generally were uncomfortable solely addressing Cleveland's illegitimate child scandal and layered it within more substantive public policy issues. In total, the cartoons reveal a plea to uphold a Victorian concept of family and morality that was seemingly losing its grip on the American public.