Backing it Up
A missile on a launching stand, lettered 'Nuclear Retaliation Warning' and topped with an atom symbol, is tilted against a wall of large letters spelling NATO. The cartoon argues that the alliance rests on a threat of nuclear retaliation; the threat imagery is the fear-appeal tell, without the cartoon stating who is warned.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- May 6, 1957
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Washington Evening Star (cartoonist Jim Berryman)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Eisenhower Administration
- Leader
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Science and technology
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), Records of the U.S. Senate, Jim Berryman Political Cartoons, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Jim Berryman, Washington Evening Star. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Senate, 5743241 (NAID 5743241).
Text on the object
NUCLEAR RETALIATION WARNING JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR
