15. Despite Pressure and Threats of Jail from General Patton, this Enlisted Cartoonist Refused to Self-Censor
To say that General George S. Patton did not like Bill Mauldin or his cartoon creations would be an understatement. Willie and Joe’s slovenly appearance was the opposite of the ramrod straight and soldierly spit and polish image fetishized by Patton. On top of that, the duo often pointedly jabbed at the fatuousness of the military hierarchy. For example, one cartoon ridiculed a Patton directive that troops be clean-shaven at all times. That made him view Willie and Joe as detrimental to discipline and morale. So Patton ordered Mauldin to report to his headquarters and tried to intimidate him into toning it down, and among other things, depict Willie and Joe as clean-shaven to set an example.
Patton berated Mauldin, accused him of trying to incite a mutiny, described him as an “unpatriotic anarchist”, and threatened him with jail. Mauldin withstood the pressure, however, knowing that the GIs loved Willie and Joe. Patton’s boss, Dwight D. Eisenhower, correctly judged that the cartoons gave soldiers an outlet for frustrations that might otherwise get expressed in more troublesome ways. So he ordered Patton to back off and leave Mauldin alone. The War Office also supported the cartoons and helped Mauldin get them syndicated in the US. They were deemed useful because they depicted war’s dark side, and showed the civilians that victory would not come easy, but would require considerable effort and sacrifice.
