---
title: Center of Population
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-center-of-population-1952/
description: A tilted page from a 'Guide Book to America' describes Abilene, Kansas, with a population given as approximately 150,000,000.
section: Collection
---

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3. Center of Population

[![Center of Population, 1952 US cartoon: A tilted page from a 'Guide Book to America' describes Abilene, Kansas](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-center-of-population-1952.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-center-of-population-1952.jpg)

# Center of Population

A tilted page from a 'Guide Book to America' describes Abilene, Kansas, with a population given as approximately 150,000,000, a principal industry of manufacturing 'I Like Ike' buttons, and points of interest tied to Eisenhower; a map of the United States is crosshatched most densely at its centre. The tell is bandwagon imagery in a satirical register: the cartoon argues that national attention has converged on Abilene around Dwight Eisenhower's candidacy.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)

## Text on the object

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

```
GUIDE BOOK TO AMERICA
Kansas (continued)
ABILENE....Population, (as of June 4, 1952), approximately 150,000,000; Elevation, On Top of the World; Topography, Ground Swells for a Favorite Son; Principal Industry, Manufacturing "I LIKE IKE" Buttons and Banners. Points of Interest, EISENHOWER Home, Site of Proposed EISENHOWER Museum, EISENHOWER Park,(Ike Spoke There), EISENHOWER Headquarters, and SUNFLOWER HOTEL, (Ike Slept There)........
MAP OF ABILENE SHOWING MAIN "BUSINESS" DISTRICT, AND SUBURBS
JIM BERRYMAN
```

[← Germ Warfare (Jawi Malay poster distributed in Asia)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/germ-warfare-jawi-malay-1952/) [Free vs. Communist (Vietnamese two-column photo sheet) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/free-vs-communist-vietnamese-1952/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

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- ["Jackson ticket" with Hickory tree motto, Baltimore (1828)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jackson-ticket-hickory-tree-1828/) (United States · 1828 · Bandwagon, Transfer)
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- [Democratic ticket, "Going the whole hog" (Ohio electors for Van Buren and Johnson), 1836](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/democratic-ticket-whole-hog-van-buren-1836/) (United States · 1836 · Bandwagon)
- ["Political race course - Union Track - fall races 1836"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/political-race-course-union-track-harrison-1836/) (United States · 1836 · Bandwagon, Name-calling). Content note: Partisan caricature of named politicians that uses the epithet 'Black Dan' for Daniel Webster and regional stereotypes in the speech balloons.
- ["Grand match between the Kinderhook poney and the Ohio ploughman", April 1836](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/grand-match-kinderhook-poney-ohio-ploughman-harrison-1836/) (United States · Apr 1836 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- ['The People's Line -- Take care of the Locomotive', Whig woodcut, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/peoples-line-take-care-of-the-locomotive-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Bandwagon)
- ['The Fox Chace', Whig cartoon of Van Buren hunted by cider-barrel hounds, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-fox-chace-van-buren-harrison-childs-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Name-calling, Bandwagon)