Jim Lange
(1926–2009)
Artist/Writer, Oklahoma City
2005 Inductee Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame
The political cartoonist at the Oklahoman since 1950, Jim Lange was a true Oklahoma institution. He created more than 17,000 cartoons in his career.
Born in Minnesota, he grew up in Dubuque, Iowa. After military service, he attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. “After art school, I mailed out samples of my cartoons to papers without in-house cartoonists,” he recalled. “The first I mailed were to the paper I am presently with.”
Harry Truman was President, Roy Turner the Governor when Lange arrived in Oklahoma. The following month’s election would see Johnston Murray and Mike Monroney become governor and US Senator. Their images formed beneath Lange’s pen immediately. His first published cartoon chided the powerful politicians for balancing on a tightrope rather than taking strong stands.
Lange has won many awards from the Freedoms Foundation, state and national safety groups and the Silver Ink Bottle award from the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.
Biography courtesy of The Toy & Action Figure Museum, Pauls Valley, Oklahoma