1947 White Political Cartoon in Favor of Tampa Annexation Referendum

This is a 1947 George White political cartoon supporting a referendum to annex Tampa suburbs into the city.

A Closer Look

Composed of two panels, the top panel presents a well-dressed man looking toward Tampa through a telescope labeled 'Civic Progress'. Tampa is glowing brightly above a label that reads, 'A Greater Tampa Through Annexation'. In the bottom panel, the same man looks at Tampa the wrong way through a telescope, making it smaller and much less impressive. This label reads, 'A Deteriorating Tampa' and suggests that without annexation Tampa will slowly disappear into irrelevance, or worse, complete obscurity.

1947 Tampa Annexation Referendum

In the summer and early fall of 1947, Tampa and the surrounding area were in the middle of a campaign concerning an annexation referendum. At issue (a simple 'Yes' or 'No' on the ballot) was whether the city of Tampa would annex towns and developments in its immediate vicinity and add 50,000 people to the city's population. The Tampa Tribune did not hide its support for annexation, stating that the taxes for the annexed areas would not go up, the services provided to those citizens would improve and be less expensive, and the city of Tampa would take steps toward being one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Florida. The vote took place on August 5, 1947, and was defeated. Under the rules of the referendum, majorities of voters in both the city and the suburbs were needed for annexation to be approved and the suburbs voted overwhelmingly against the measure.

Publication History and Census

This cartoon was drawn by George White and published in the July 13, 1947, edition of the Tampa Tribune. Since this piece is the original artwork for the cartoon, it is one-of-a-kind.