---
title: Ceiling Zero
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-ceiling-zero-1953/
description: 'A dove labelled ''Peace'' with an olive branch flies through a storm of wind-blown papers, each a headline: ''Eisenhower letter falls on deaf ears''.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Ceiling Zero

[![Ceiling Zero, 1953 US cartoon: A dove labelled 'Peace' with an olive branch flies through a storm of wind-blown papers, each](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-ceiling-zero-1953.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-ceiling-zero-1953.jpg)

# Ceiling Zero

A dove labelled 'Peace' with an olive branch flies through a storm of wind-blown papers, each a headline: 'Eisenhower letter falls on deaf ears', 'Syngman Rhee rejects truce', 'Explosions rock Seoul', 'U.S. running out of storage space for A-bombs', 'Air Force controversy continues', 'Radford says Navy will not relax Pacific patrols' and '45 B-47's cross Atlantc in 5 1/2 hours'. The tell is card-stacking: headlines selected to show obstacles and weapons around the dove, with the cartoon arguing that peace faced headwinds.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
PEACE
EISENHOWER
LETTER FALLS
ON DEAF
EARS
U.S. RUNNING
OUT OF STORAGE
SPACE FOR
A-BOMBS
SYNGMAN RHEE
REJECTS
TRUCE
EXPLOSIONS
ROCK SEOUL
AIR FORCE
CONTROVERSY
CONTINUES
RADFORD
SAYS NAVY
WILL NOT
RELAX PACIFIC
PATROLS
45 B-47's
CROSS
ATLANTC
IN 5½ HOURS
```

[← On to the First National Jamboree (English poster distributed in the Philippines)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/on-to-first-national-jamboree-philippines-1953/) [They really had me worried...for a few days! \[Rhee says Korea will go it alone if truce is signed\] →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-they-really-had-me-worried-war-truce-1953/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.