THESUGGESTION

Carl Barks had strong opinions on many aspects of everyday life: Community (see more HERE), environment (see more HERE), economy (see more HERE), politics (see more HERE), and so on. Still, he would mostly suppress his views when asked by fans and interviewers in order not to push them away and to not have his status influenced in a possible negative way. Therefore it is quite rare to be able to present the only LTE* that has survived from Barks' long life as a would-be reformer of American society. The letter is quite harmless in that sense, but illustrates clearly that Barks did indeed have his opinions even in small matters.

* The term LTE (or LTTE) is an American abbreviation meaning Letter To The Editor, and stands for issues of concern from a reader to a publication. The contents of another LTE can be seen HERE.

HERBLOCK CARTOON EXAMPLES
(Nixon satires taken from the time of Barks' letter)

Herbert Lawrence Block (artist name Herblock) was a liberally oriented cartoonist known for his harsh commentaries on domestic and foreign policy. Since his death an annual Herblock prize of 10,000 dollars has been awarded for excellence in political cartooning.

Robert Gray Smith (artist name Graysmith) started out in the early 1970s as a cartoonist, but he soon switched to being an author of true-crimes in the bestseller Zodiac novel series.

Arvo Kustaa 'Gus' Hall was a longtime leader of Communist Party USA. During his leadership he was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his activities.

Joseph 'Joe' McCarthy was a Republican politician who, during the so-called Cold War, claimed that the USA housed large numbers of subversive communists and sympathizers. After him the phrase McCarthyism was coined.

Richard M. Nixon was the USAs 37th president. He was a Republican (Conservative) just as Barks, and his presidency consisted of two major, historic courses: 1. the heavy, military involvement in the Vietnam war which continued escalating until the war ended in 1975, and 2. his disgraceful involvement in the so-called Watergate Scandal, which ended by costing him his office in 1974.

The Watergate Scandal evolved from a break-in into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. President Nixon was later revealed to have known about the event and trying to cover it up, which eventually led to his resignation.