Hell-Bent for Election

Chuck Jones moonlighted with the artists of what would eventually become UPA to make this excellent piece of election propaganda. It was funded by the United Auto Workers to help re-elect Franklin Roosevelt. In the cartoon Roosevelt is caricatured as a streamlined train, while Thomas Dewey is the Defeatist Limited. A southern senator tries to lure Joe Worker to fall asleep at the switch and so allow Dewey to win. The animation is somewhat stylized with pleasing graphics. Probably one of the few, if not only, cartoons to be so overtly political (one of the Dewey train cars is labeled "Jim Crow"). I recommend it for any fan of animation history.

What an exhilarating piece of work this is! Hell-Bent for Election is by far the most enjoyable and effective example of campaign propaganda I've ever seen, a fascinating animated extravaganza that plays like an elaborate editorial cartoon come to life. This 13-minute film was a collaborative effort between the legendary Chuck Jones and the two men who would form the nucleus of UPA (the hippest cartoon studio of its day), Steve Bosustow and John Hubley. The goal of this particular project was the re-election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, and the artists involved gave it everything they had: the visual style combines the fluid, funny character work found in Jones' Warner Bros. classics with the cubist, angular graphics UPA would soon help establish as the dominant post-war style. The script is sharp, full of puns and topical references that might bewilder viewers who aren't well-versed in the political history of the 1940s. But even if you don't catch all the jokes, there's no denying that the campaign song that closes the film is incredibly catchy, and may have you singing along by the end. The lyrics were written by E. Y. ("Yip") Harburg, who wrote the words for a number of songs that can safely be called immortal, including "It's Only a Paper Moon" and "Over the Rainbow."

The story concerns a railroad worker named Joe whose job it is to throw a switch so that one of two trains -- but only one -- can proceed to the White House on a single track. The trains represent the candidates of the two main parties, and this is where the political analogies are especially clever: FDR is personified as a slick, modern diesel train, the Win-the-War Special no less, while the opposition is depicted as a tired, wheezing, decadent locomotive called the Defeatist Limited. There is no attempt to make the "Republican" train resemble the GOP candidate, Thomas E. Dewey, but the film-makers were careful to show this train pulling a lot of ugly freight loads, such as the Business as Usual Sleeper and a Jim Crow car representing institutionalized racism. (This last accusation was pretty nervy, however, since so much Jim Crow legislation of the era was sponsored and passed by conservative Southern Democrats.) As these two trains approach the junction, meanwhile, Joe is pestered by a wicked little politician who attempts to distract him with flattery, blather, and booze from a bottle labeled "Campaign Champagne – No Proof." A powerful cigar offered by this scoundrel lulls Joe into a heavily medicated, hallucinatory nightmare state, but there's little doubt he'll manage to snap out of it and do the right thing in the nick of time.

I think it's worth pointing out that depicting FDR as a powerful train was a brilliant, almost subliminal transformation of his personal misfortune, i.e. his paralysis, into an asset. President Roosevelt was almost never photographed in his wheelchair, and according to people of my parents' generation the true extent of his disability was not widely understood, but certainly most Americans were aware that he could not walk without assistance. To depict him here as a grinning, confident diesel train, happily barreling down the track towards certain victory, was a stroke of genius.

In any event, a written description doesn't do this cartoon justice, nor does a single viewing. It's a dazzling display of the animator's art as well as brilliant political propaganda. From what I gather the film was originally shown not in regular theaters but at labor meetings, rallies, Democratic Party conclaves, etc. I'm sure it was a very effective means of rallying the troops, especially with that great song at the finale. Even today, many decades later, you may feel charged up and ready to go out and vote when it's over.

This was vomit stifling. FDR expanded government and moved us into socialism as if cluster f$&@ of a government was the solution. Now we're seeing all this waste playing out in 2022.

Directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Steven Bosustow for what would later become known as UPA, Hell-Bent for Election was an attempt to convince certain workers not quite sure who to vote for president in 1944 to cast it for Franklin D. Roosevelt for a fourth term in order to help "win the war" (according to song lyrics written by E. Y. Harburg). Roosevelt is portrayed as a streamlined train that's running parallel to another train called "Defeatest Limited" that has every negative connotation associated with it as connecting cars. This was, I'm sure, effective propaganda for the time and probably ensured Roosevelt got even more votes even though he probably would have been reelected anyway since he did so well before during the previous Depression and the still-active World War II during this time. Well worth a look now for the fluid and stylized animation that would help define UPA during the late '40s and much of the '50s.

This is a rather slickly made propaganda piece encouraging the viewers to vote for FDR and for union-supported government programs. However, instead of directly stating these at the beginning, a story about a railroad worker not falling asleep at the switch was employed.

This is a rather effective propaganda piece, though the basic message seems rather dishonest. This union-financed film could have easily said that the public should support the President in his re-election bid for a wide variety of good reasons. At the time, Roosevelt had done an excellent job in leading America at war, so an honest cartoon COULD have been made. Had I been alive and able to vote back then, I might have cast my ballot for him instead of the Dewey and the Republicans. Instead, the message seems to be that if you DON'T vote for Roosevelt you are a traitor, are a friend to evil self-interests OR that you just plain love Hitler!! Talk about a dishonest message and hyperbole. Had Dewey won (and he didn't have a prayer), I truly doubt the country would have joined the Axis or capitulated--especially since by late 1944 the war was all but over and the next year would be mostly "mopping up" actions.

Technically speaking, this was a rather competently made cartoon. While not up to the standards of the Warner Brothers, Disney or MGM cartoons of the day, it is better than Universal's animation. Viewers will no doubt notice the intensity of the colors--it's hard on the eyes, but still well-made. Not a great quality cartoon, but effective and sufficient.

So who would want to watch this today? Well, apart from history teachers like myself, most wouldn't--though it is a nice window into the spirit of the times. Worth a look--just understand that this is truly negative propaganda.