Second Curtain: No Compromise on East Germany

A man labelled Adenauer, carrying a bag marked 'Mission to Moscow' and holding his hat out in front of him, hurries through a gap in a riveted steel door bearing the words 'No compromise on East Germany' and a hammer and sickle. The cartoon argues that the West German chancellor is approaching Moscow as a supplicant before an unyielding Soviet position; ridicule by posture is the tell, so name-calling is an approximate fit.

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Name-calling

Date

September 9, 1955

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

Security and surveillance, Empire and colonialism

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, 5743209 (NAID 5743209).

NO
COMPROMISE
ON
EAST GERMANY
ADENAUER'S
'MISSION
TO
MOSCOW'
JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR?...