Soviet Scales of Justice
A sleeved arm grips a hammer-and-sickle by its handle; the sickle forms the beam of a scale whose pan holds a scroll lettered GUILTY WHEN CHARGED. The cartoon argues that Soviet courts treat a charge as a verdict; the technique is a weak fit (name-calling through the symbol and the phrase).
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- August 16, 1960
- 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 (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, 5743285 (NAID 5743285).
Text on the object
GUILTY WHEN CHARGED JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR......
