When Al Posen originated the idea of National Cartoonists Society tours to entertain American servicemen, he became the NCS Director of Overseas Shows. On October 4, 1952, nine cartoonists left on a USO-Camp Shows tour of U.S. Armed Forces installations in Europe, traveling via a
Military Air Transport Service plane from
Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts and landing at
Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany. On the tour, the cartoonists engaged models in each country to join in their
Laff Time show of audience participation stunts and gags. The cartoonists were Posen,
Charles Biro, Bob Dunn, Gus Edson, Bill Holman,
Bob Montana, Russell Patterson, Clarence Russell and Dick Wingert (
Hubert). The comic strip
Dondi came about because of a friendship that developed between Edson and
Irwin Hasen during a USO trip to Korea.
Hy Eisman described the atmosphere at the NCS when he joined in 1955: , Don Sherwood,
Mort Walker,
Lyndon B. Johnson,
Milton Caniff and
George Wunder. During the 1960s, cartoonists of military comic strips went to the White House and met with
Lyndon B. Johnson in the
Oval Office. The group included Caniff,
Bill Mauldin and
Mort Walker. In 1977–78, the National Cartoonists Society released
The National Cartoonists Society Portfolio of Fine Comic Art, published by Collector's Press. The portfolio featured a total of 34 art prints. Each 12" x 16" print was printed on archival fine art paper. In 2011, to memorialize and commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
September 11 attacks, many NCS cartoonists auctioned off art that gave commentary to the tragedy and raised money for families victimized by the event in a reflective homage called,
Cartoonists Remember. These cartoon tributes raised over $50,000 to benefit the 9/11 families. The art was featured and displayed in both nationally syndicated newspapers and museums across America, including the
Newseum in Washington, DC, the
Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco and the
Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City. In 2005, the Society formed a Foundation to continue the charitable works of its fund for indigent cartoonists, the
Milt Gross Fund. The Society's offices are in
Winter Park, Florida. In addition, the NCS has chartered 16 regional chapters throughout the United States and one in Canada. Chapter Chairpersons sit on the NCS Regional Council and are represented by a National Representative, who is a voting member of the Board of Directors. As NCS president for two consecutive terms,
Jeff Keane, cartoonist for the
Family Circus and son of comic creator,
Bil Keane, returned to the charter and spirit of the NCS by extending the society's outreach to the military by visiting and cartooning for vets who served in the Iraq War and Afghanistan War, during the years 2007–2011. In 2008, NCS joined over 60 other art licensing businesses (including the
Artists Rights Society,
Association of American Editorial Cartoonists,
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the
Stock Artists Alliance, Illustrator's Partnership of America and the Advertising Photographers of America) in opposing both
The Orphan Works Act of 2008 and the
Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008. Known collectively as "
Artists United Against the U.S. Orphan Works Acts", the diverse organizations joined forces to oppose the bills, which the groups believe "permits, and even encourages, wide-scale infringements while depriving creators of protections currently available under the Copyright Act." ==Billy DeBeck Memorial Award==