Chamberlain

Opposed to Kennedy's re-election, Dallas insurance agent Louie Witt claimed his protest was to tie in President Kennedy with the appeasement sympathies held by JFK's father Joseph P. Kennedy, the Ambassador to Britain (1938-1940) until recalled by President Roosevelt. The umbrella was said to be a reference to the trademark umbrella that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain frequently carried with him.

History has usually presented Chamberlain as a weak man who appeased Adolf Hitler with his 1938 Munich "Peace in our time" Agreement, thus encouraging the German Chancellor to invade other countries. Few know that Chamberlain signed a mutual defense pact with Poland in early 1939, effectively drawing a line in the sand. Churchill, who took over from Chamberlain in 1940, wasn't as tough on aggressors as he appeared to be; he didn't declare war on the Soviet Union for their part in invading Poland.

In the British media at the time, the daily newspaper was widely read. It's clear the cartoonists favored an early confrontation with Hitler. Even before Munich, they had seized upon the umbrella as a symbol of Chamberlain's weakness. Some critics have claimed that Witt's protest wasn't a true reflection of the Chamberlain-tie as the PM was never seen or drawn with an open umbrella.

Cartoons courtesy of:

The British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent, at http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/