No. 1 Bacteria
A microscope labelled 'U.N. Germ Warfare Probe' looks down at a mustachioed man in a military tunic with hammer-and-sickle collar tabs, lying splayed on the slide like a specimen with legs sticking out. The tell is name-calling through the specimen metaphor, casting the figure as the bacterium under examination; the cartoon argues that the probe would expose him.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- June 22, 1952
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Washington Evening Star (cartoonist Jim Berryman)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Truman Administration
- Leader
- Harry S. Truman
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Science and technology
- Event
- Korean War
- 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 (NAID 5730852), 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, 5743162 (NAID 5743162).
Text on the object
U.N. GERM WARFARE PROBE
