![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
America says: NO KINGS!
Jun. 14th, 2025 08:50 amThe phrase "No Kings" is trending, so here's some historical context.
The USA was founded in rebellion from and in opposition to monarchy. The Constitution's framers made our head of state an elected position of limited and checked authority. When George Washington was first elected President, someone asked if he should be addressed as "Your Majesty" (in the style of European monarchs); Washington replied certainly not, he should be addressed simply as "Mister President".
For reasons such as these, critics, satirists, and cartoonists have long known that one of the greatest insults they can throw at a US President is to compare him to a king. Depicting them with a crown on their head concisely conveys that they are abusing their power, are unfit for office, have delusions of grandeur, and are inherently un-American.
A few of many historic examples of US Presidents insultingly caricatured as king.
King Andrew the First - Andrew Jackson caricatured as a king, 1833, artist unidentified.
1868 caricature of Andrew Johnson as King Richard III, by Thomas Nast.
King Andy Johnson - "My Kingdom for a Horse!"
(Love Thomas Nast's work here - look at that face; talented artistry leaving no doubt as to Nast's opinion of Johnson!)
The Coronation of William McKinley.
1896 caricature of William McKinley crowning himself, by Louis Dalrymple.
1972 caricature of Richard Nixon as King Canute, by Paul Francis Conrad.
Note the co-conspirators hiding under the train of Nixon's royal robe.
The USA was founded in rebellion from and in opposition to monarchy. The Constitution's framers made our head of state an elected position of limited and checked authority. When George Washington was first elected President, someone asked if he should be addressed as "Your Majesty" (in the style of European monarchs); Washington replied certainly not, he should be addressed simply as "Mister President".
For reasons such as these, critics, satirists, and cartoonists have long known that one of the greatest insults they can throw at a US President is to compare him to a king. Depicting them with a crown on their head concisely conveys that they are abusing their power, are unfit for office, have delusions of grandeur, and are inherently un-American.
A few of many historic examples of US Presidents insultingly caricatured as king.
King Andrew the First - Andrew Jackson caricatured as a king, 1833, artist unidentified.
1868 caricature of Andrew Johnson as King Richard III, by Thomas Nast.
King Andy Johnson - "My Kingdom for a Horse!"
(Love Thomas Nast's work here - look at that face; talented artistry leaving no doubt as to Nast's opinion of Johnson!)
The Coronation of William McKinley.
1896 caricature of William McKinley crowning himself, by Louis Dalrymple.
1972 caricature of Richard Nixon as King Canute, by Paul Francis Conrad.
Note the co-conspirators hiding under the train of Nixon's royal robe.
