The extraordinary quality of Herb's eye, his insights and sharp comments immediately stood out. When The Post was struggling for its existence, Herb was one of its major assets, as he has been throughout his 50 years here. The Post and Herblock are forever intertwined. If The Post is his forum, he helped create it. And he has been its shining light.
Journalistic enterprises run best when writers and editors have a lot of autonomy.
But Herb's case is extreme. And because he's a genius, it works. He's just as tough within the confines of The Post as he is in the political world outside. Herb's independence evolved gradually. In the early years, he made several sketches for the day's cartoon and dutifully submitted them to the editorial page editor to choose.