Political Cartooning – Iowa’s Own Frank Miller.

For over one hundred years, the front page of **The Des Moines Register** featured a daily editorial cartoon, establishing a tradition of political commentary in Iowa. In 1906, the Register hired **Jay N. “Ding” Darling**, who drew for the newspaper until his retirement in 1949. Darling was temporarily succeeded by his long-time assistant, **Harold I. “Tom” Carlisle**, who occasionally produced cartoons in Darling’s absence and after his retirement. In 1953, the Register hired **Frank A. Miller** to continue producing editorial cartoons. Miller remained with the newspaper until his untimely death in 1983, when **Brian Duffy** became the full-time staff cartoonist. Duffy drew for the Register until 2008, when his position was abruptly terminated during budget cutbacks. Together, Darling, Carlisle, Miller, and Duffy produced a century of cartoon commentary and their drawings provide a unique view into the past.

*Click here to read more about Political Cartooning in Iowa*
*Click here to read more about Jay N. “Ding” Darling*
*Click here to read more about Brian Duffy*

So, here on this page, we want to give a big salute to Frank A. Miller – head political cartoonist for The Des Moines Register from 1953 to 1983. Thirty years of amazing artwork, all created by one simple, down-home man from Kansas City…

Frank A. Miller was born on March 28, 1925 in Kansas City, and was introduced to cartooning at an early age by his father, who was a political cartoonist for The Kansas City Star. The younger Miller studied art at the University of Kansas and the Kansas City Art Institute before serving in the Third Army in Europe during World War II. It was at the Institute where Frank met his future wife, Catherine. After the war, Frank returned back home, married Catherine, and followed in his father’s footsteps as a staff artist with The Star.

In 1951, Des Moines Register editor Kenneth MacDonald offered Miller the position of cartoonist as Miller’s former teacher, Karl Mattern, a Grant Wood contemporary, had recommended him for the job. Frank was unable to accept for nearly 18 months because he was recalled for active duty with the Seventh Division (artillery) during the Korean War.

Finally in 1953, Miller joined The Register where he embarked on a distinguished 30-year career in editorial cartooning. During that time, Frank drew more than 10,000 cartoons, receiving many honors, including the National Headline Award in 1957 and the Freedom Foundation Award six times between 1955 and 1964. He also received the Courage in Journalism Award of the Des Moines chapter of Sigma Delta Chi in 1961 “for placing people, foibles and the times in their proper perspective by deflating stuffed shirts and debunking sacred cows wherever he finds them.”

In 1963, Miller won his highest honor: the Pulitzer Prize for political cartooning, making it the third time a Des Moines Register artist received this coveted award since its inception in 1922.

Miller, who was plagued by a chronic alcohol problem, kept it a secret from the public and most of his colleagues until late in his life. After participating in a treatment program, he worked tirelessly to help others afflicted with the disease. At the time of his premature death in February 1983, Frank’s work was being widely syndicated in nearly 50 newspapers throughout the country. In his final calendar year of work at The Des Moines Register, twelve of his best sketches (from 1982) were re-printed in the January 2, 1983 edition of the paper…

Who knew, that just a few weeks later – on February 17, 1983, Frank A. Miller would suffer a sudden heart attack in the parking lot of Merle Hay Plaza and pass away at age 57. Over the next few days and weeks, The Des Moines Register offered many articles honoring Miller’s thirty years of amazing service to the people of Iowa and beyond…

***On February 20, 1983, The Register published this two full-page salute to Miller…***

***The article, of course, included one full page of Frank’s artwork…***

Over the remainder of the year (1983), The Register assembled other memorable collectibles that included some of Frank’s finest artwork. Below, we picture a collectible set of Miller art prints that were gathered together into a set called Four Seasons of Iowa, and sold by The Register beginning in April 1983…

(L-0078a) Frank Miller – Four Seasons in Iowa Prints.

Frank Miller loved the outdoors, and often sketched scenes of Iowa landscapes…

In the mid-to-late 1960’s, The Register took many of Frank’s outdoor scenes and brought them together into highly-popular calendar formats – like the ones featured below…

(L-0078b) Frank Miller – 1966 & 1969 Des Moines Register Calendars.

In addition to producing newspaper-published cartoons, Miller was also an accomplished watercolorist, and his work was noted for landscapes that featured rural towns, vintage buildings, and picturesque farmyards…

*(L-0078c)* **Frank Miller** – Percivil Galleries – Des Moines – Set of Four Frank Miller Watercolor Art Print Posters *– Circa 1980’s.*

(BH-169) In the summer of 1983, The Des Moines Register published a beautiful collection of 180 of Frank Miller’s best-known cartoons in the 184-page hard-cover book – Frank Miller: Cartoons as commentary: Three decades at The Register.

Over the years, Frank Miller – in a way only he could – gave a tip of the old hat to Hawkeye fans across the state. Below: the 1982 Rose Bowl appearance caused great celebration for the Hawkeye faithful…

On September 25, 1983, The Des Moines Register published this article (below): “Love-in for Frank” – featuring the last cartoon frame Miller was finishing up on the day he died. As you can see from the unsigned print, Miller was poking fun at the pent-up frustration of a typical Iowa housewife when it was announced that the new United States Football League (USFL) will be scheduling televised games during the spring & summer – attracting many a husband away from their normal household duties during the NFL’s “off-season”…

Today, collectors of Miller’s work are astonished to learn that in the mid-1970s, when the Millers sold their house in Des Moines and moved into a condominium, they reportedly sold stacks of his original drawings at a garage sale for 25 cents apiece. A generous man who supported many good causes, Miller would often make a sketch for a non-profit, which was then used as a fund-raiser for the organization.

In March 2025, a very generous Iowa City-native contacted Our Iowa Heritage concerning the desire to donate a framed Frank Miller original sketch (see below) that his wife’s family purchased at a fund-raiser in Atlantic, Iowa in the late 1990’s. We graciously received the family gift and picture it here (below). Our hope is to find a good home for the framed sketch in one of the historical museums here in Iowa City or in Des Moines.

*(L-0130)* ***Frank Miller’s original sketch – circa 1980 – measures 21″ x 25″***

Over his 30 years at The Register, Frank Miller found plenty of opportunities to use his self-deprecating humor. A good example comes from September 1, 1965. As we mentioned earlier, The Register – for several years in the 1960’s – would print an annual calendar that featured Frank’s artwork and then, throughout that same year, use each month’s sketch to feature on their front page on the first day of every month. Notice (above left) Frank’s September 1965 calendar has an extra day (September 31). The error was quickly spotted by devoted fans, and the following day (September 2, 1965), Frank pictures himself as a naughty school boy who must learn that “30 days hath September”.

So now, back to our donated art piece. Although we’ve seen other sketches-for-charity by Miller, this one (above left) is unique because it’s so very reminiscent of Miller’s famous self-portrait sketch (above right), and it makes us wonder if this “circus clown” just might be another “self-portrait” since we know that Miller loved to poke fun at himself. Either way, it’s classic Frank Miller and we thank the Iowa City family for this generous donation!