Content note: A Native American mascot caricature in feathered headdress representing the Washington football team leaps over a lion representing Detroit, as published in a sports-page cartoon. This object is shown as it was published. Why
The Lion's Share Wasn't Much
A caricatured Native American figure in feathered headdress, labelled 'Washington' on his leg, leaps over a roaring lion labelled 'Detroit' with a football under his arm, beside the score '31-7' and two small football panels with captions about players named Todd, Filchock, Baugh, Malone and Millner. The technique tell is identity-fusion, a weak fit: a city and its football team are merged into a single costumed mascot figure, and the lion likewise stands for Detroit.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- November 27, 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Washington Evening Star (cartoonist Jim Berryman)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Commemorate
- Theme
- Race and ethnicity
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 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, 5743113 (NAID 5743113).
Text on the object
LITTLE DICKIE TODD WASN'T AT ALL IMPRESSED BY THE LIONS' EXCESS POUNDAGE...... GEE! THESE GUYS AIN'T SO TOUGH! MAYBE THEY GOT SOME BIG ONES THEY'RE HOLDIN' BACK! MANHATTAN!-- HERE I COME! ---AN' I HOPE IT DOESN'T RAIN ! WASHINGTON DETROIT 31-7 EE-YOW! I NEVER SAW SUCH A LACK OF RESPECT FER TH' KING OF BEASTS! NAW! THAT'S FILCHOCK!--YOU'LL SEE BAUGH NEXT QUARTER! IT SEEMED TO MAKE NO DIFFERENCE WHO THREW 'EM--MALONE AND MILLNER HAD GLUE-FINGERS!...... JIM BERRYMAN
