Skip to main content
Collections Menu
Image courtesy of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.
What Makes You So Sure?
Image courtesy of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.

What Makes You So Sure?

Artifact ID1973.1.117
Object Type Cartoon Drawing
Artist (1906 - 1992)
Publisher ()
Gifter
Date ca. August 1967
Medium Ink and grease pencil on drawing paper
DimensionsOverall H 22 3/4 in x W 14 1/8 in (57.8 cm x 35.9 cm )
Physical Description
Physical DescriptionOriginal cartoon drawing. Farmer LBJ talks to a startled hen with the head of a donkey ("Dissident Democrats") sitting on a nest of door knobs ("G Wallace”, “Kennedy-Fulbright”, and “King-Spock"). Two discarded doorknobs ("H Wallace, Thurmond") are in a garbage can (“1948”). Caption: “What Makes You So Sure?”. Artist signature lower right: "LD Warren”.
Inscriptions and MarkingsHandwritten at lower center: “33 ½ picas”. Handwritten at lower center: [underline] “Tue 15 Aug 67”.
Historical NoteAfter President Kennedy proposed civil rights legislation in spring 1963 and President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, many conservative white southerners that otherwise agreed on Democrat domestic policy, such as Alabama governor George Wallace, left the Democratic Party. Other Democrats split from the mainstream due to disagreement on the Vietnam War such as Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman J. William Fulbright and New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights leader and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Benjamin Spock was a pediatrician and activist who worked with King and spoke out against the Vietnam War. Henry A. Wallace was vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1941-1945 and ran for president in 1948 under the Progressive Party. Strom Thurmond was a segregationist South Carolina governor who ran for president under the segregationist States' Rights Democratic Party in 1948.
Additional Details
Custodial History NoteThe item was a gift from the general public to President Johnson during his term in office. It was received by President Johnson, until the President donated it to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in 1973.
Credit LineGift of Lyndon Baines Johnson
National Archives Catalog CollectionLyndon B. Johnson Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 192413)
National Archives Catalog SeriesGifts from the General Public (National Archives Identifier 189698395)
Use Restriction StatusRestricted - Fully
Use Restriction NoteCopyright or other proprietary rights are held by individuals or entities other than the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum. The LBJ Presidential Library and Museum does not warrant that the use of materials will not infringe on the rights of third parties holding the rights to these works, or make any representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement, treaty, or protections that may apply. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy any copyright or other use restrictions. Pertinent regulations can be found at 36 C.F.R 1254.62.
Person Referenced Martin Luther King, Jr. (United States, 1929 - 1968)
Person Referenced Robert F. Kennedy (United States, 1925 - 1968)
Person Referenced Benjamin Spock (United States, 1903 - 1998)
Person Referenced George Wallace (United States, 1919 - 1988)
Person Referenced J. William Fulbright (United States, 1905 - 1995)
In Collection(s)
Not on view
Place of Publication
Cincinnati
Related Links