Political cartoons were first published in England in the 18th century, evolving from individual prints to comic drawings included in magazines, to today’s editorial cartoons in newspapers. Usually based on current events, politics, or social ills, the cartoonists use caricature, visual metaphor, absurdity, and humor to draw attention to serious matters.These fifteen cartoons, collected by George Abdullah Makla, were all published in New York City newspapers between 1914-1915, and all draw attention to events and figures in the first year of World War I. Cartoonists include Sid Greene, William Kemp Starrett, Robert “Fighting Bob” Minor, Clive Weed, Robert Carter, and Frederick Burr Opper, who all worked in New York City at the time. While the United States did not join WWI until 1917, the U.S. public was reading about the political machinations, conflicts, and battles taking place in Europe, and cartoons helped frame these serious subjects with a satiric or humorous angle.

George Abdallah Makla was born August 1, 1893 in Damascus, Syria, and moved to New York City with his family in October of 1909. He was naturalized in 1916, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917, when the U.S. joined World War I, and served in the American Expeditionary Forces. He worked as an interpreter in Paris, as he spoke not only English and Arabic, but also French and Italian. After the war, Makla returned to New York City, where he worked in linen imports, though he also lived for a time in Florence, Italy, and in Florida before moving near family in Knoxville. For several years in the 1960s, he owned a boarding house for 12 male UT students just off campus, near what is now Laurel Hall. The Daily Beacon published numerous articles written by Makla, who came to be known on campus as “Uncle”.

George A. Makla died on March 24, 1977, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Greenwood Heights, New York.