McCutcheon, John T. (John Tinney), 1870-1949
Biography
John Tinney McCutcheon, born May 6, 1870, in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, graduated from Purdue University in 1889 and moved to Chicago to work for the Chicago Morning News, later called the Chicago Record. While working for the successors of that paper, he covered the conflict in the Philippines and the Boer War in South Africa. He joined the staff of the Chicago Tribune in 1903, subsequently drawing editorial cartoons on a daily basis. He traveled widely, covering various political events. He served as the editorial cartoonist for the paper until 1946, receiving a Pulitzer Prize for his 1931 editorial cartoon, “A Wise Economist Asks a Question.” His cartoon entitled “Injun Summer,” first run in 1912, has been reprinted by various papers for decades. He received many honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Humaine Letters from Northwestern University in 1943. Subjects of his cartoons include foreign affairs, national and local political issues, journalism and the press, as well as general themes such as baseball, poverty, auto accidents, etc. National and international issues dominate after the advent of World War I. McCutcheon died on June 10, 1949 in Lake Forest, Illinois. Close personal friends included Vice-President of the U.S. and Chicago banker, Charles G. Dawes, and cartoonist George Ade with whom he collaborated on several volumes of caricatures.