Ol' Man Rivers, David Wilcox

Mendel Rivers (1905–1970) represented the Charleston, South Carolina, district in Congress for nearly 30 years. A conservative Democrat, he was often at odds with his party, frequently criticizing American foreign policy, foreign aid, and the United Nations. Though he was initially skeptical about American involvement in Vietnam, he eventually became one of the strongest supporters of the war. He was an ardent proponent for increased military spending and the establishment of a nuclear navy. In 1965, Rivers was appointed chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. In that role he advocated the constant upgrading of U.S. military preparedness, regardless of the cost.
David Wilcox, after studies in Los Angeles, relocated to New York where his clients included national publications and Fortune 500 companies. Here, for Esquire magazine, he imagines Rivers seated on the floor (possibly within the House of Representatives), beating patriotically on his drum. The subject is posed like a boy with his toys; between his outstretched legs are some of the weapons and military craft the Congressman was delighted to fund. Wilcox’s painting was commissioned to illustrate a profile of the powerful Southern legislator that appeared in Esquire in October 1970, shortly before Rivers’s death. That article and the painting share the same title, a play on the subject’s surname and a reference to the song “Ol’ Man River” from the 1927 Dixie musical Show Boat by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. In the play and subsequent movie, the song was performed by a Black riverman; Hammerstein’s lyrics suggest parallels between the struggles of African Americans and the ceaseless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi. Mendel Rivers, a consistent segregationist, would likely have been displeased by the analogy. CCE