Edmund Siegfried Valtman (May 31, 1914 – January 12, 2005) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

editorial

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

and the winner of the 1962

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) *Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-prof ...

Early life

Born in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

to Juhan and Elisabeth (née Kukk) Valtman, Edmund sold his first cartoons when he was 15 to the children's magazine ''Laste Rõõm''. He also created his first cartoon at 15. He had seen his older brother draw as well as his father make cakes and cookies with designs on them (Juhan was a baker). Leonid Brezhnev by Edmund S

Edmund Valtman worked as an editorial cartoonist for the newspapers ''Eesti Sõna'' and ''Maa Sõna'' under the moniker ''Vallot'' and studied at the Tallinn Art and Applied Art School. When the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

reoccupied Estonia in 1944, he and his wife, Helmi (who was Estonian) fled the country with retreating Nazi troops and then spent the next four years in displaced persons camps in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

including one in Geislingen. The camps were still under the control of Allied occupation forces. They emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1959, first to Little Silver east of

Red Bank, New Jersey Red Bank is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Incorporated in 1908, the community is on the Navesink River, the area's original transportation route to the ocean and other ports. Red Bank is in the New York metro ...

and then to

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

Career

Valtman was a cartoonist for ''

The Hartford Times ''The Hartford Times'' was a daily afternoon newspaper serving the Hartford, Connecticut, community from 1817 to 1976. It was owned for decades by the Gannett Company which sold the financially struggling paper in 1973 to the owners of the ''New ...

'' from 1951 until his retirement in 1975 and Helmi began working in insurance at the same time. He was noted for his

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

s of

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

–era

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

leaders including

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

and

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

. He won the Pulitzer Prize for a August 31, 1961 cartoon showing

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

leading a shackled, beaten-down man representing

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and advising

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

"What You Need, Man, Is a Revolution Like Mine!" Valtman died in a retirement home in

Bloomfield, Connecticut Bloomfield is a suburb of Hartford in the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States. The town's population was 21,535 at the 2020 census, Bloomfield's highest decennial census count ever. Bloomfield is best known as the headquarters of ...

References

External links

* 1914 births 2005 deaths Artists from Tallinn 20th-century Estonian male artists 20th-century Estonian artists Estonian editorial cartoonists Estonian anti-communists People from the Governorate of Estonia American editorial cartoonists American anti-communists Estonian emigrants to the United States Estonian World War II refugees Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners {{US-cartoonist-stub