Pat Oliphant Quotes
The fact that we're protected under that Constitution in exercising the right of free speech, it's a wonderful thing. You've got to come from somewhere else to realize how valuable it is.
Oliphant, Pat. "Drawing Power: The Art of the Political Cartoonist." Interview by Harry Kreisler. Conversations with History, Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 5 Mar. 1998.
The Nazis were banned from demonstrating in the streets of Skokie, Illinois on the grounds that they would incite violence. However, Goldberger of the ACLU took their case and won their right to spew their hatred before the Supreme Court.
This quotation was used ten years later by Virginia which, in convention, passed a resolution objecting to the Alien & Sedition Acts. The drafter of the original resolution was James Madison.
It is ironic that Pakistan, the creation of Jinnah’s efforts, has to a great extent adopted Sharia (Islamic Law) resulting in severe curtailment of freedom of speech and thought. Professors languish in jail for not teaching the history of Muhammed in the orthodox way, people are sentenced to death for what the local mullahs regard as blasphemy—results which from Jinnah’s point of view were terrible.
Striking down a law making cross burning a crime:
Nixon’s views of free speech rights did not recognize the right of those who advocate revolution or government or system change in America. By his standard all of the Founding Fathers should not have been entitled to most of their early speeches. The Supreme Court repeatedly rejected his standard, distinguishing between speech to change or reform the government and illegal action to bring those changes about.
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Oliphant is an Australian-born American artist whose career spanned more than sixty years. His body of work as a whole focuses mostly on American and global politics, culture, and corruption; he is particularly known for his caricatures of American presidents and other powerful leaders. Over the course of his long career, Oliphant produced thousands of daily editorial cartoons, dozens of bronze sculptures, as well as a large oeuvre of drawings and paintings. He retired in 2015.
