Woman and Man Seated Back to Back by Norman Rockwell

October 9, 1920 Issue of The Saturday Evening Post

Woman and Man Seated Back to Back, this Norman Rockwell painting, appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post published October 9, 1920...
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The alternate title for this painting is Political Argument.

This painting was Rockwell's thirty-fourth overall picture featured on the cover of The Post and the ninth Rockwell cover in 1920. The Post featured a Rockwell illustration on its cover eleven times in 1920.

Woman and Man Seated Back to Back

This Norman Rockwell painting shows us just how deeply seated our beliefs can become. The belief illustrated here is that there is any real difference between the two major American political parties.

Any modern political observer knows that both parties stand for bigger and more intrusive government. The difference between them is the same as the difference between either side of the same coin. Now I'll leave the soapbox and discuss the painting.

Here we see a man and woman, sitting back to back, each holding an "opposite" opinion on the 1920 United States presidential election. Presumably, they are just as intransigent on the other electoral races held the same year. We can tell that they are firm in their political beliefs by the looks on their faces.

The 1920 presidential election between Warren G. Harding, the Republican nominee, and James M Cox, the Democratic nominee, was evidently hotly contested. Harding won by a landslide.

Harding's landslide was partly fueled by the votes of German-Americans and Irish-Americans. The German-Americans voted anti-Democratic because of persecution during the First World War. Irish-Americans voted anti-Democratic because Woodrow Wilson broke his promise to push for a independent Ireland at the peace treaty conference at Versailles.

Rockwell presents the basic choice here. The woman supports Republican candidate Harding. This is evidenced by the Republican seal on her side of the canvas and the newspaper in her lap that has Harding's photograph and Harding in the headline.

The man supports Democratic candidate Cox. Rockwell painted the Democratic seal on his side of the canvas. The man's newspaper headline reads "COX."

Rockwell wisely refrains from taking one side or the other. After all, "Heads" the government wins, "Tails" the American public loses. Either way, it adds up to more of the same. Then, as now, the need for a real choice is clear...
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