"Soviet Imperialism": exhibit placard on Hungary, 1956, at Union Station, Washington, D.C.
A free-standing exhibit panel headed 'SOVIET IMPERIALISM' carries a street photograph of a tank in Budapest, 'November, 1956', a long quoted passage describing Soviet fire on civilian targets, and captioned photographs of a wounded woman and of a fighter, with side panels headed 'A lonely Freedom Fighter' and 'One Freedom Fighter'. The headline is a loaded label (name-calling); the passage is credited to a United Nations committee (testimonial).
- Date
- March 24, 1958
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- AFL-CIO ("Soviet Empire" exhibit at Union Station, Washington, D.C.; photograph by Warren K. Leffler for U.S. News & World Report)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Signs and banners
- Issuer type
- NGO
- Leader
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Techniques
- Name-callingTestimonial
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. News & World Report photo; LoC: No known restrictions on publication)
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, LC-DIG-ppmsca-77971
Text on the object
SOVIET IMPERIALISM [Main photograph caption:] Budapest, November, 1956 [Passage:] Soviet troops opened fire at 4:25 A.M. on 4 November. . . . Shortly afterwards cannon fire was heard from all quarters of the city. . . . Soviet tanks began to move along the main boulevards, firing indiscriminately into houses to strike fear into the people and to force their surrender. Hundreds of buildings were completely destroyed and thousands more had been severely damaged. . . . The Soviet armored units opened fire on all buildings along avenues and streets and inflicted heavy casualties among noncombatants. During these attacks, the Soviet troops would shoot indiscriminately at anything . . . a bread-line of women and children standing outside a bakery . . . a Red Cross ambulance was destroyed by machine gun fire; the wounded and the nurses in it were killed. United Nations Special Committee on Hungary, 1957 [Lower photograph captions:] Budapest, November, 1956 | Budapest, November, 1956 [Right-hand panels, cut off by the frame:] A lonely Freedom Fighter | One Freedom Fighter | Russian gangsters have [illegible] Hungary and Europe! . . . [illegible] the world of the treache[illegible] SOS—SOS—SOS. . . . [illegible] enough tommy guns in [illegible] people attack tanks wit[illegible] | Exhausted from the street-f[illegible] [Left-hand panel, cut off by the frame:] [illegible]e time of the entry of Soviet forces [illegible]rs. . . . As day broke on the morning [illegible] forces of the Soviet Union parading [illegible] the west opened fire without warn- [illegible]roops stationed in Hungary, but of [illegible] Hungary, 1957
Main passage read from a crop of the LoC master file (3581 x 5292 px); the committed image is the LoC 683 px service copy. Side panels are cut off at the frame edges.
