1981 cartoon by Pat Oliphant, depicting U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
Pat Oliphant is a highly influential Australian-American political cartoonist, illustrator, animator and sculptor. During his long career (1955-2015), his cartoons were syndicated to hundreds of newspapers and magazines all over the world. Originally, the house cartoonist of the Australian paper The Advertiser (1955-1964), he moved to the USA, where his cartoons could be seen in The Denver Post (1964-1975) and The Washington Star (1975-1981). Starting in 1981, Oliphant offered his cartoons directly to a syndicate, who sold them to any paper that wanted to publish them. This gave him a unique form of creative freedom and global exposure. It has been estimated that by the end of the 20th century, Oliphant was the most widely syndicated and influential political cartoonist on the planet. He combined exquisite graphic skills with powerful messages. Many have imitated his gravelly style and small commentary-spewing signature background character. In his cartoons, Oliphant often used the comic strip format. In 1984, he also briefly drew a Sunday comic, 'Sunday Punk', starring his signature character Punk the Penguin. Although his cartoons have often drawn controversy, Oliphant also received various awards, including the 1967 Pulitzer Prize.
'Sunday Punk' strip of 25 March 1984, referencing U.S. President Ronald Reagan's piercing question to potential voters during the upcoming Presidential elections: "Are you better off now, than three years ago?".
Early life
Patrick Bruce Oliphant was born in 1935 in Adelaide, South Australia. His father was a draftsman for the government, who drew maps for the Department of Lands. Oliphant's uncle was the famous physicist Mark Oliphant (1901-2000), who during World War II worked on the Manhattan Project, which culminated in the atomic bomb. Later in life, Mark Oliphant served as governor of the province of South Australia (1971-1976).
From a young age, Pat Oliphant enjoyed drawing. While he attended art school for a while, as an artist he was mostly self-taught. Only very late in life, when he was already an established cartoonist, he attended William Christenberry's figure drawing classes at the Corcoran in Washington D.C.. Among Oliphant's graphic influences were Paul Conrad, Honoré Daumier, Giovanni Fischetti, Carl Giles, Bill Mauldin, Leonard Matheson Norris, Paul Rigby, Ronald Searle and various cartoonists in the magazines Punch and Mad. Later in his career, he also expressed admiration for Fritz Behrendt, David Levine and Edward Sorel.
1967 cartoon by Pat Oliphant, depicting U.S. politician Tom Currigan, who was mayor of Denver, Colorado.
Cartooning career in Australia
Initially, Oliphant wanted to become a journalist, but instead of taking classes, he went straight to the source. As an 18-year old in 1952, he took a job as copy boy at The News, an evening paper distributed in Adelaide. When the paper kept refusing him a raise, he moved to The Adelaide Advertiser in 1955, where he originally created cartoons for the weather forecasts. However, his editors wanted to keep a pleasant tone at all times, or as Oliphant put it: "All my cartoons had to be in favor of good weather". He experienced similar executive meddling when he drew political cartoons for the paper. The conservative editors frequently disagreed with his content. Several of his cartoons were altered or rejected.
Besides having the feeling that his editors didn't take him seriously, Oliphant also dealt with other frustrations. He famously described his fatherland as "a country where nothing happens". Contrary to other continents, most events in Australia barely made headlines elsewhere in the world. So instead, Oliphant shifted his focus to international politics. The plus side was that his editors tolerated his sharp commentary on other countries more than on Australia. The downside was that this defied the purpose of being a political cartoonist: stirring up debate. In 1958, Oliphant participated with the Grand Challenge Editorial Cartoonist Competition in London and won. His work was included in a book featuring all the participants: Josef Josten's 'The Great Challenge' (Penrow Publication, London, 1958). In 1959, Oliphant took a four-month voyage to the United Kingdom and the United States, paid by The Adelaide Advertiser. The trip introduced him to many American and European cartoonists he hadn't heard of before. The trip also convinced him to move where the "actual political action was", namely The United States. Still, he had to wait until 1964 when his contract with The Adelaide Advertiser ended.
1975 cartoon by Pat Oliphant, depicting U.S. President Gerald Ford following the Democratic Party donkey mascot.
Cartooning career in the United States
In 1964, Oliphant left The Adelaide Advertiser, where Robert Hannaford succeeded him as the new house cartoonist. Oliphant had heard that U.S. political cartoonist Paul Conrad was about to leave The Denver Post in favor of The Los Angeles Times. Oliphant applied for the vocation and was hired as Conrad's successor. Together with his wife and children, Oliphant crossed the globe to settle in Denver, Colorado. By April 1965, his cartoons were also syndicated internationally and in 1967, he already won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. This prize increased his fame in three different ways. First of all, because he received this prestigious award so early in his career. Secondly, he was the first non-American winner. And last but not least, because he was the first cartoonist to reject it. Oliphant considered the cartoon selected by the jury one of his "weaker" drawings. It depicted Vietnamese president Ho Chi Minh carrying a dead citizen, parodying Michelangelo's statue Pièta. It was a general statement about war's misery, instead of a more poignant, polarizing opinion about the sleazy, ideological mechanics behind the conflict. In Oliphant's opinion, the cartoon wasn't chosen for its artistic quality, but merely because it criticized the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War. Later he claimed that he had "deliberately" submitted this weak cartoon to prove his point about the Pulitzer Prize's selection process.
Starting in the mid-1960s, Oliphant's cartoons were distributed by The Los Angeles Times Syndicate, which increased his global presence. In 1975, Oliphant moved to Washington D.C. to join The Washington Star. Living in the nation's capital had the advantage of being right there where U.S. politics are dictated. The paper's chief editor was so eager to have Oliphant that the cartoonist was given the front page of each issue. In 1979, Oliphant was naturalized as a U.S. citizen. A year later, he joined a different syndicate, Universal Press. When The Washington Star folded in 1981, Oliphant took the unprecedented move of not seeking another house newspaper. Instead, he simply offered his cartoons to Universal Press, who then sold them to any paper that showed interest. By this point, Oliphant had achieved an impressive status in the world of editorial cartooning. Many regarded him as an important political commentator and the standard for other people in his profession. As such, many papers were eager to run Pat Oliphant's cartoons in their pages. Having established a reputation, Oliphant could now draw what he wanted to express. Even if some papers rejected specific cartoons, there were always hundreds of others willing to print them. Apart from creative independence, working directly for syndication also increased Oliphant's global reach, as his cartoons could be seen in faraway countries like Brazil, France, South Korea and Japan.
Oliphant stayed in Washington D.C. until 2004, after which he moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. He retired on 13 January 2015, because his eyesight had worsened. Since then, he has only made two occasional cartoons, printed in The Nib on 2 February 2017, criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump and fellow Republican Steve Bannon.
'Sunday Punk' (1984).
Punk the penguin
During the time that Pat Oliphant was a cartoonist for The Adelaide Advertiser in 1955, he was barely in his early twenties. Editors belittled him and if he made a cartoon they disagreed with, he was forced to change it. To get back at them, Oliphant started adding a tiny penguin with a speech balloon in the background. The bird expressed his uncensored opinion about the current affairs satirized in the cartoon. Since the penguin was muffled away near the margins, his editors didn't notice him at first. By the time they realized Oliphant's secret messages, it was already too late. Readers liked the penguin so much that they couldn't ask for its removal. And so Punk the Penguin, as Oliphant named him, was allowed to stay. Over the years, Punk grew into Oliphant's alter ego. The character voices what the cartoonist thinks. As a result, some readers read Punk's speech balloons first, before looking at the rest of that day's cartoon.
Punk was inspired by a real-life Adelaide penguin. One day, a colleague of Oliphant brought the bird to their office. He had captured the animal at the Australian south coast and later donated him to the Adelaide Zoo. However, the idea of a background character commenting in daily cartoons wasn't new. Long before Oliphant, William Keevil Patrick used a duck, Rowland C. Bowman a little dog, Fred O. Seibel a small crow and Bob Satterfield a tiny bear. However, Oliphant popularized this gimmick for the post-World War II generation of political cartoonists. Several also added a recurring background character commenting on current affairs. Examples are Berkeley Breathed's Opus the penguin and Gado's common African woman Wanjiku.
Pat Oliphant cartoon of 12 March 1998 starring Socks, the presidential cat of U.S. President Bill Clinton. The cartoon refers to the 1998 Clinton-Lewinsky sex scandal.
On 18 March 1984, Oliphant launched a Sunday comic titled 'Sunday Punk'. It featured Punk in gag situations, inspired by the political events of that week. While the comic was well-received, it was in many ways barely indistinguishable from his daily political cartoons, which also featured comic strip panels. The only genuine difference was that Punk now actually had a starring role, instead of being a Greek chorus in the background. Oliphant eventually discontinued 'Sunday Punk' on 16 September, because creating it was too time-consuming.
During the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton, Pat Oliphant teamed Punk up with the real-life presidential cat Socks. Comics featuring Punk in conversation with an anthropomorphized version of the White House feline appeared irregularly between 1992 and 2000.
Pat Oliphant cartoon of 23 June 1980, referencing West-European politics. In the gondola we recognize West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt, French president Giscard d'Estaing and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher;
Style
Pat Oliphant is widely regarded as an innovator and trendsetter in the field of editorial cartooning. He combined strongly articulated opinions with well-drawn, striking images. One of his trademarks are his grey-shaded, elongated, scraggly figures. Each drawing is graphically interesting. Despite the elaborate, time-consuming artwork, Oliphant never let this get in the way of well-constructed compositions. His biggest innovation was the use of a comic strip format in political cartoons. At the start of his career in the 1950s and 1960s, this was still an unusual practice, especially in the United States. Most editorial cartoonists preferred one-panel cartoons. If they had to use more panels, it was usually to simply contrast two situations, typically in a "before and after" fashion. Oliphant, however, saw more potential in comics.
To Oliphant, a comic strip lay-out made it possible to communicate more ideas with the reader. The cartoonist could present a current event in a gag strip narrative. The extra panels allowed for different visual angles and perspectives. By using real-life people as comic characters, Oliphant could go beyond caricaturing just their physical features. He could exaggerate their public image too. Richard Nixon, for instance, became a brooding, sinister figure. While most other cartoonists focused on Nixon's large nose and cheeks, Oliphant took a more minimal approach. He simply portrayed "Tricky Dicky's" eyes, keeping the rest of his face out of frame, while maintaining the politician's ominous appearance. Gerald Ford, who had a reputation for clumsiness, became an awkward twit under Oliphant's pencil. He famously depicted him with a permanent Band-Aid on his forehead. Jimmy Carter, widely regarded as a weak leader, gradually shrunk in size. After Carter was attacked by a river rabbit, Oliphant made it a running gag to let him be stalked by bunnies, even long after Carter's active political career.
Ronald Reagan transformed into a Hollywood-style cowboy, who thought everything was a film set. Oliphant made George Bush Jr. a small naïve boy hanging out with his smarter "uncle" Vice-President Dick Cheney. Barack Obama was portrayed as an Easter Island statue, worshipped as a religious idol by people putting a lot of faith in his "change" campaign. During lectures, Oliphant was often asked to draw all the previous (and current) presidents again for audience entertainment. A collection of Pat Oliphant's presidential caricatures can be found in 'Oliphant's Presidents: 25 Years of Caricatures' (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1990).
Oliphant's use of the comic strip format gave his cartoons a more dynamic and versatile look. Many editorial cartoonists felt inspired or obligated to up the ante in their own work. Others only copied his visual style, without taking his sharp, observant opinions into consideration. Interviewed by The Atlantic journalist Les Daly (3 September 2014), Oliphant said that he considers politics "the most boring thing you possibly engage in. The study of the charlatans that practice it is what is enjoyable. The machinations of politics is not what is fascinating to me. It's the crookedness of the people. Politicians are disgusting people, with some exceptions." In his opinion, "Without an amount of savagery the cartoonist is really not doing his job. (...) If only good people populated the political scene, I would have nothing to do. Good people make poor targets. I like villains." Interviewed by Zan Dubin for The Los Angeles Times (7 March 1992), Oliphant put it even more bluntly: "What's good for the cartoonist isn't always good for the country. It's an art that feeds on conflicts." He deliberately avoided meeting his targets in person, since he wanted to avoid feeling sympathy towards them. In general, Oliphant only made exceptions when politicians had already retired from active politics. He recalled that earlier in his career, he met senator Barry Goldwater and was shocked that he actually liked him as a person.
Pat Oliphant cartoon of 23 February 1981, featuring Ronald Reagan trying to shoot Cuban president Fidel Castro on Uncle Sam's nose.
Success
In 1986, long after former president Gerald Ford had retired from politics, he invited various cartoonists, columnists and comedians to his presidential museum in Grand Rapids. Oliphant was present too. As a joke, he used a marker to draw a Band-Aid on Ford's forehead. The politician took the joke well, but the Secret Service threatened Oliphant that if he ever did something like that again, he "would never draw in this town again." Oliphant, along with several other political cartoonists, was also once invited to the White House to meet President Ronald Reagan. To refresh his memory, Reagan often carried cue cards with him. As the invitees were gathered in the room, he read one to tell them: "I always start the day with reading the comics in the paper." This already alarmed Oliphant and his colleagues that Reagan was unaware who his visitors actually were.
When U.S journalist Hunter S. Thompson looked for someone to illustrate his 1971 novel 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas', he originally considered Pat Oliphant. Since he wasn't available, the job went to Ralph Steadman instead.
Pat Oliphant cartoon of 10 June 1987, starring George Bush Sr.
Controversy
Like all great political cartoonists, Pat Oliphant's cartoons often offended readers. He referred to his work as "confrontational art". To him, being an editorial cartoonist was less of a job and more of a necessity. Interviewed by Milton Bass for People (1 August 1977), Oliphant admitted that political cartooning is an "unfair art". He stated: "The editorial writers feel duty-bound to point out all sides of the question, to weigh and balance, to present the facts. But in the great negative art of cartooning, you're only going for the Achilles' heel."
Over the decades, Oliphant hurt many people's Achilles' heels. In 1972, U.S. presidential candidate George Wallace was shot during his campaign. He survived, but was bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. As he kept active in politics, Oliphant also kept portraying him, unavoidably as a wheelchair user. Several readers felt this was heartless, but to Oliphant this was the reality of Wallace's situation. In 1988, George Bush Sr. was elected president. Lacking the charisma of his predecessor Ronald Reagan, Bush was perceived by his critics as a stereotypical "wimp". Oliphant therefore exaggerated Bush's glasses and constantly drew him with a purse, to underline his "lack of masculinity". Various women's and LGBT groups protested against this stereotypical metaphor. On 24 December 1993, a cartoon by Oliphant portrayed pop star Michael Jackson in the context of child sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church. Only a few months earlier, the "King of Pop" had been accused of child molestation. The cartoon led to many angry readers' letters from offended Catholics.
In the spring of 2001, a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet, whereupon China detained 24 U.S. Navy crew members for a while. On 14 April 2001, an Oliphant comic was published in which a stereotypically portrayed Chinese waiter accidentally dumps noodles on an unseen customer and then ironically demands that the customer apologizes. The final panel reveals that the restaurant visitor was Uncle Sam. Many readers, especially those of Asian-American descent, took offense of the portrayal of the Chinese waiter, who was drawn with buck-teeth and couldn't pronounce the letter "r". Oliphant stirred up Roman Catholic readers again with a cartoon printed on 20 March 2002. The drawing parodies the Running of the Bulls event in Pamplona, Spain. Titled 'The Annual Running of the Altar Boys', the cartoon depicts dozens of horny Roman Catholic priests chasing frightened altar boys. In the background, a bystander wants to tell the Bishop, but he is informed that the Bishop has "first dibs". Another onlooker comments: "If I was the Pope, I'd marry a few of them off." One of several offended Catholic readers was talk show host Mark Edwards, who personally registered a complaint. Various newspapers refused to print Oliphant's cartoon or make it available online.
On 30 August 2004, a cartoon by Oliphant depicted Uncle Sam reading a paper with the headline "Mole in the Pentagon". A dog with the Star of David urinates on Sam's trousers, causing him to say: "What? Again??!!", while the animal simply thinks: "I do this only in friendship." Punk the penguin comments: "That's becoming a habit - stop.", while another character adds: "The dog needs training". The cartoons caused accusations of Anti-Semitism, particularly since it compared Jews with dogs and hinted at Jewish influence in U.S. politics. Similar accusations happened on 25 March 2009, when an Oliphant cartoon criticized the Israeli army driving Palestinian people away from the Gaza strip. It depicts a headless, goose-stepping soldier holding a sword and pushing a Star of David with shark teeth on wheels. The giant soldier pursues a tiny woman, holding a baby. The cartoon led to hundreds of angry letters, including from the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and The Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The infamous Altar Boys cartoon, depicting child sexual abuse scandals in the U.S. Catholic Church (20 March 2002).
Criticism of colleagues and the Pulitzer Prizes
Over the course of his career, Oliphant was always outspoken about his profession. He frequently expressed his irritation with journalists and cartoonists who don't challenge themselves or their readers. It irked him that many never did any thorough research, making their editorials weak with middle-of-the-road arguments. Especially with editorial cartoonists, this often leads to forgettable, throwaway jokes drawn in a simple style. Oliphant felt that a good political cartoon ought to be a combination of graphic skills and a strong, personal message. The cartoonist shouldn't be afraid of taking up a contrary opinion.
For these reasons, Oliphant often disagreed with the annual Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartoon winners. Oliphant had won the prestigious award in 1967, but famously rejected it, because the selected cartoon didn't meet his personal standards. He regarded it as a rigged competition, based on secret deals between papers about which of their cartoonists will win that year. Often the cartoons are selected on basis of political motivations rather than the content itself. Oliphant gave the example of Bill Mauldin's famous 'Weeping Lincoln' (1963) cartoon, made after John F. Kennedy's assassination, depicting Abraham Lincoln mourning in the seat of the Lincoln Memorial. He felt this cartoon should have been the winner, but instead the award went to Paul Conrad. According to Oliphant, one of the Pulitzer jury members later admitted to Mauldin that there had been "some dealing going on". Since then, Oliphant lost all respect for the Pulitzer Prizes, although in general he considered all awards essentially meaningless. Quality can't be judged and to him anybody is only as good as their latest cartoon.
Even though Oliphant claimed not to care about awards, he kept commenting on the Pulitzer Prize jury's choices, most famously in 1987, when Berkeley Breathed (of the political comic strip 'Bloom County') was declared the winner. Oliphant went so far to accuse Breathed of "degrading editorial cartooning" and dismissed 'Bloom County' as "a highly derivative comic strip... that makes the pretense of passing off shrill potty jokes and grade school sight gags as social commentary." He also felt that 'Bloom County' ought to be disqualified, since it didn't literally appear in the editorial pages. Interestingly enough, 'Bloom County' also makes use of a penguin commenting on current events, which might offer an extra explanation for Oliphant's ire. Breathed admitted being highly influenced by Oliphant. Still, on 6-8 November 1987, he retaliated by giving Oliphant's Punk the Penguin a cameo in 'Bloom County', depicting the bird as a vulgar Londoner with a Cockney accent. In the storyline, Punk is jealous of Opus the Penguin and dreams of his commercial success.
Likewise, Pat Oliphant didn't feel flattered by the countless cartoonists that were inspired by his work. In an interview, he once referred to them as "those bastards." Cartoonist Bill Mauldin stated that Oliphant sometimes received checks for reprint rights of cartoons people mistook for his own. Instead of informing the syndicate that they sent the money to the wrong cartoonist, Oliphant coldly cashed the checks!
Sculpting
In the early 1980s, Oliphant started making bronze sculptures. Inspired by his personal hero Honoré Daumier, they weren't realistic portraits, but caricatures. The imagery is often based on well-known cartoons by Oliphant himself, such as Richard Nixon naked and in shame, Barack Obama as an Easter Island statue, or George Bush Jr. being led by Vice President Dick Cheney on a colossal horse. Oliphant has also made sculptures based on apolitical topics. His sculptures have frequently been exhibited and are nowadays in the permanent collections of of various museums.
Animation career
Pat Oliphant provided designs and storyboards for two educational animated shorts, directed by Stan Phillips. 'A Snort History' (1971) was made for the Colorado Department of Health and discouraged driving under the influence. 'Choice Stakes' (1974) was commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency and shows how we, as people, can help protect the environment, for instance by saving energy and not littering. The actual animation was provided by Stan Phillips and lead animator Mike Sanger.
'Why Do I Feel Uneasy?' Book cover depicting Hillary and Bill Clinton.
Graphic and written contributions
In addition to his cartooning work, Oliphant lived up the pages of several fiction and non-fiction books. As could be expected, politics and economics were his prime interests. He illustrated John Osborne's journalistic report about U.S. President Richard Nixon, 'The Third Year of The Nixon Watch' (W.W. Norton & Co., 1972). His art also adorned the pages of Brian Kelly's political analysis 'Adventures in Porkland: How Washington Wastes Your Money and Why They Won't Stop' (Villard Books, New York, 1992) and Karen Walker's economical study 'Understanding Santa Fe Real Estate' (Real Estate, Santa Fe, 1997). Oliphant additionally illustrated the cover of Maureen Dowd's 'Bushworld: Enter At Your Own Risk' (Putnam, New York, 2004), a critical look at George Bush Sr. and Jr., other members of the family and various politicians in their respective administrations.
Oliphant also wrote the preface to compilation books featuring work by colleagues, among them Aislin's 'Where's the Trough? And other Aislin Cartoons' (McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 1985), Dan Wasserman's 'We've Been Framed!: Cartoons' (Faber & Faber, Boston, 1987), Jim Morin's 'Line of Fire: Political Cartoons' (Florida International University Press, 1991), Bill Mitchell ('Mitchell's View' (Coconut Press, Rochester New York, 1993), Kevin Kallaugher's 'Kal Draws a Crowd: Political Cartoons' (Baltimore, Woodholme House, 1997) and Ace Reid's 'Ace Reid and the Cowpokes Cartoons' (University of Texas Press, 1999). A foreword by Oliphant also appeared in the compilation book 'Florida's Editorial Cartoonists: A Collection of Editorial Art' (Sarasota, Pineapple Press, 1996), edited by S.L. Harrison. Oliphant additionally wrote two prefaces for comic strip collections, including Bill Watterson's 'Calvin & Hobbes' book 'Something Under The Bed Is Drooling' (Andrews McMeel, 1988) and Richard Thompson's 'Richard's Poor Almanack: 12 Months of Misinformation in Handy Cartoon Form' (Emmis Books, Cincinnati, 2004).
Oliphant delved into fiction by illustrating Larry L. King's short story 'That Terrible Night Santa Got Lost in the Woods' (Encino Pr., 1981) and William C. Carson's children's book 'Peter Becomes a Trail Man' (University of New Mexico Press, 2002). He designed the cover art for Karl Kirchwey's poetry collection 'Stumbling Blocks: Roman Poems' (Triquarterly, 2017) and P.J. O'Rourke's 'Thrown Under the Omnibus' (New York, Atlantic Monthly, 2015). As a member of the ironic club "Bad Golfers Association", Oliphant provided drawings to Bruce Nash, Allan Zullo and Bill Hartigan's 'Golf's Most Outrageous Quotes: An Official Bad Golfers Association Book' (Andrews McMeel, 1995).
In 1988, Oliphant was one of many celebrities who signed a petition to support Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, who was sued by televangelist Jerry Falwell for an offensive parody advertisement, published in Hustler. Flynt eventually won his case. While Oliphant didn't like Flynt or Hustler, he felt freedom of expression was important to be defended. He also drew advertisements for a late 1980s campaign by The Northwest Airlines and made caricatures for Rolling Stone magazine.
Pat Oliphant cartoon of 5 January 2005.
Recognition
Although Pat Oliphant never considered awards all that important, he built up an impressive trophy library. In 1966, he received the Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award, at the instigation of the Society of Professional Journalists. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning (1967), the Thomas Nast Prize (1992) and an Inkpot Award (2009). Oliphant is a multiple Reuben Award winner, being declared "Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year" twice, in 1968 and 1972. He won the Reuben Award for Editorial Cartooning seven times, in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1984, 1989, 1990 and 1991. The National Wildlife Federation bestowed him with a Distinguished Service Award (1969), the American Civil Liberties Union with a Tajiri Award (1973) and the American Academy of Achievement with a Golden Plate Award (1974). In 1981, Dartmouth College named Oliphant "honorary doctor of Humane Letters".
Pat Oliphant is also a well-liked lecturer, having been invited to various university campuses. For three months in 2012, Oliphant was the Roy Lichtenstein Artist in Resident at the American Academy in Rome.
Legacy and influence
On 30 April 2018, Pat Oliphant donated his personal archives to the Virginia University. They not only included his cartoons, but also his notebooks, where preliminary sketches give insight in his creative process. Several of his cartoons are in the personal collections of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, the George W. Bush Library, National Portrait Gallery, the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe and the U.S. Library of Congress.
In the United States, Oliphant influenced Berkeley Breathed, Steve Breen, Bob Englehart, Draper Hill, Mike Luckovich, Jeff MacNelly, Ray Osrin, Mike Peters, Ann Telnaes and Tom Toles. Veteran artist Jack Davis also expressed admiration for his work. In Australia, Oliphant inspired Martin Brown, in the United Kingdom Ian Knox, while in The Netherlands he was a strong influence on Tom Janssen. Oliphant's satirical song 'Jingo Bells', lifted from a 1990 editorial cartoon published at Christmas, was set to music by Eugene Chadbourne, available on his album 'I Support The Troops and Want My Money Back' (2003).
Self-portrait.