Alfred E. Neuman - some background and comparison with Pete Buttigieg. Not massively important but curious and cultural A bit of research and reportage on the Alfred E. Neuman comparison with which Trump has honored Pete Buttegieg, who just happens to resemble the comic character (but so do the dissimilar Prince Charles, David Letterman, GWB and others). Wikipedia reports that Mad mag did presidential election satire with this mascot character, firstly in 1956, proposing Alfred E. Neuman as a write-in candidate vs. Eisenhower or Stevenson, with the campaign slogan "What - me worry?" That was Mad issue #30. The magazine put Neuman up for the same thing in a number of subsequent elections with the slogan "You could do worse... and always have!" Imagine that Trump grew up reading Mad and remembered both the goofy look and occasional candidacy of Alfred E. Neuman. Does Buttigieg ever look worried? Earlier issues of Mad, founded in '52, deployed a similar character with the first name Melvin and varying last names such as Cosnowski, Cowsnofsky, Sturdley and Haney. Unexplainably funny names. Neuman's rarely appearing girlfriend was named Moxie Cowznofski. The first name of Mayor Pete's partner is Chasten. Not chaste but chastenable, and full of moxie. Laugh or worry. Mad adopted the image from previous uses in advertising, most often American but not always, where no name was attached but a worry-free catchphrase often was. This example from the 30's for an auto parts supplier looks a lot like Buttigieg. The earliest known use of such an image was in a stage comedy from 1894 titled The New Boy, strangely foreshadowing Mayor Pete's entry into national politics 125 years later. Advertisers intentionally used a bit of innocent humor, somewhat like they do today, including dentists who liked the smiling, toothless man-child. Before the 1890s vaguely similar characters were part of travelling medicine shows and book illustrations. Variations over the years are said to include the "Irish idiot", cowboys and, dare I say, Jews. The naivety of the character was also used (so says Wikipedia, without reference) on postcards criticizing supporters of FDR in the 1940 election with the phrase "Sure I'm for Roosevelt". Feel free to adapt and memetize this for 2020 purposes. The surname Neuman, sometimes misspelled Newman, implies a young man, not unlike the boyish Buttigieg. One story of how the Mad editors settled on the Alfred Neuman name, over the arguably funnier Melvin variations, is that they borrowed it from a 40's radio comedy persona designed with that name as "an innocuous character that you'd forget in five minutes" and the magazine readers loved it. Will South Bend, Indiana's shining son with the comedic names be forgotten in 5 minutes?