---
title: The Thinker...and Some of his Thoughts...
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-the-thinker-and-some-of-his-thoughts-1944/
description: An Uncle Sam figure sits in the pose of Rodin's 'The Thinker', and a thought cloud asks whether strikes are costing soldiers' lives and whether
section: Collection
---

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3. The Thinker...and Some of his Thoughts...

[![The Thinker...and Some of his Thoughts..., 1944 US cartoon: An Uncle Sam figure sits in the pose of Rodin's 'The Thinker'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-the-thinker-and-some-of-his-thoughts-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-the-thinker-and-some-of-his-thoughts-1944.jpg)

# The Thinker...and Some of his Thoughts...

An Uncle Sam figure sits in the pose of Rodin's 'The Thinker', and a thought cloud asks whether strikes are costing soldiers' lives and whether the Commander-in-Chief should tell the people, adding that leaders have minimized strikes and that there is more talk of 'Our Rights' than of 'Our Duties'. The cartoon argues that wartime strikes deserve franker presidential discussion; the technique tell is transfer, borrowing soldiers' lives and a famous sculpture's gravity for the argument.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
THE THINKER.........
.....AND SOME OF HIS THOUGHTS.....

If strikes are costing soldiers' lives, shouldn't the Commander-in-Chief tell the people?......

...Our government leaders have minimized the effect of strikes.... ...is it any wonder the strikers minimize it?....

...we hear a lot about Our Rights ... why isn't there more emphasis on Our Duties?

[signature: Jim Berryman] (WITH APOLOGIES TO RODIN)
```

[← Your Enemy the Jap (Official Navy Poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/your-enemy-the-jap-navy-1944/) [Bekanntmachung, Warsaw, 2 February 1944: 100 condemned prisoners shot in public →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sipo-bekanntmachung-100-hostages-warsaw-1944/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)