In 1933 Block became a syndicated editorial cartoonist for the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) in Cleveland, where he remained for ten years. His first illustration, on forestry conservation, appeared in the News on 24 April 1929. After graduating from Senn in 1927, he attended Lake Forest College for two years, where he studied English and political science before dropping out to become an editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Daily News newspaper in 1929.

Demonstrating artistic talent early, Block received a scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago at age twelve, and while attending Nicholas Senn High School he began contributing cartoons to suburban newspapers under the pen name of 'Herblock,' which he continued to use throughout his career. Grew up on Chicago's far north side with his two brothers. The youngest son of David Julian Block, a chemical engineer, and Theresa 'Tessie' Lupe, a homemaker, Block 7 October 2001 in Washington, D.C.), one of the foremost American political cartoonists of the twentieth century throughout the 1960s the widely syndicated cartoons of the four-time Pulitzer Prize winner documented a political scene that passed from the peace of the Eisenhower years through the turmoil of the Vietnam War, while never overlooking the many unfolding controversies within American society.

Herbert block political cartoons