Mapmaker: A. Kerns
(U.S.- Vietnam - thematic, political) The Devil Made Me Do it!
1971
(U.S.- Vietnam - thematic, political) The Devil Made Me Do it!, A. Kerns - Hipco, Chicago, 1971
With a suspicious glare back at the viewer, Nixon holds a map of Southeast Asia, but with icons for tanks and planes, not just in South Vietnam, But Laos, Cambodia and even Thailand. Around this time Nixon realized that the U.S. had "crossed the rubicon" were in a deep messy war and that they needed to "go for broke" and "go to the brink" to "destroy the enemy's warmaking capacity." This included the expansive creep of actions taken in neighboring countries to impair and contain the North Vietnamese. By 1972 Kissinger, Nixon's Secretary of State, was saying that "peace is at hand". It wasn't. Nixon's program of "Vietnamization" to diminish the American role in the conflict would be a faltering effort to pass on the baton to South Vietnamese troops, which would completely collapse with the fall of Saigon in 1975. But by this time, Nixon had his own fall and resigned in 1974.
And for context, the "Devil Made Me Do it!" title comes from the famous catch phrase from the popular black comedian Flip Wilson that had been used in his stand up routine since the mid-1960's. The implicit joke is that anything that happened to Wilson's comedic character would be immediately blamed on the devil, and they weren't responsible as... "The Devil Made Me Do it!"
This uncommon poster is the only instance we know on record of a map being complimented, not by gold leaf, but by fuzzy, groovy velvet at top that "drips" down from the top margin adding texture and accentuating the "flames" behind Nixon. Condition is good with some light dampstaining evident from the back, but not really effecting the image, some light minor soiling. Minor marginal tears. Color is strong, and groovy. Image size is approximately 27 x 21 (inches)
With a suspicious glare back at the viewer, Nixon holds a map of Southeast Asia, but with icons for tanks and planes, not just in South Vietnam, But Laos, Cambodia and even Thailand. Around this time Nixon realized that the U.S. had "crossed the rubicon" were in a deep messy war and that they needed to "go for broke" and "go to the brink" to "destroy the enemy's warmaking capacity." This included the expansive creep of actions taken in neighboring countries to impair and contain the North Vietnamese. By 1972 Kissinger, Nixon's Secretary of State, was saying that "peace is at hand". It wasn't. Nixon's program of "Vietnamization" to diminish the American role in the conflict would be a faltering effort to pass on the baton to South Vietnamese troops, which would completely collapse with the fall of Saigon in 1975. But by this time, Nixon had his own fall and resigned in 1974.
And for context, the "Devil Made Me Do it!" title comes from the famous catch phrase from the popular black comedian Flip Wilson that had been used in his stand up routine since the mid-1960's. The implicit joke is that anything that happened to Wilson's comedic character would be immediately blamed on the devil, and they weren't responsible as... "The Devil Made Me Do it!"
This uncommon poster is the only instance we know on record of a map being complimented, not by gold leaf, but by fuzzy, groovy velvet at top that "drips" down from the top margin adding texture and accentuating the "flames" behind Nixon. Condition is good with some light dampstaining evident from the back, but not really effecting the image, some light minor soiling. Minor marginal tears. Color is strong, and groovy. Image size is approximately 27 x 21 (inches)