Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
The Problem: When...and how much, 1950 US cartoon: Uncle Sam, dressed as a blacksmith before a forge, studies a wall chart

The Problem: When...and how much

Uncle Sam, dressed as a blacksmith before a forge, studies a wall chart headed 'Conversion Chart No 1... Making a sword out of a plowshare' while a plow lies on the anvil before him. The cartoon argues that the country faces the question of how fast and how far to convert from peacetime to arms production; the technique fit is weak, with the biblical plowshare allusion carrying the argument.

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Transfer
Date
July 11, 1950
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
Warn or inform
Themes
War and the military, Economy and finance
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, 5743147 (NAID 5743147).

Text on the object

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

CONVERSION CHART
No 1...MAKING
A SWORD OUT
OF A PLOWSHARE
A
B
[signature: Jim Berryman]

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