---
title: They Always Come Out On Top
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-they-always-come-out-on-top-1950/
description: A drawing based on the Iwo Jima flag-raising scene shows Marines driving a flagpole into rubble, with two quotations dated August 29 and September 6.
section: Collection
---

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3. They Always Come Out On Top

[![They Always Come Out On Top, 1950 US cartoon: A drawing based on the Iwo Jima flag-raising scene shows Marines driving](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-they-always-come-out-on-top-1950.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-they-always-come-out-on-top-1950.jpg)

# They Always Come Out On Top

A drawing based on the Iwo Jima flag-raising scene shows Marines driving a flagpole into rubble, with two quotations dated August 29 and September 6, 1950 attributed to Harry S. Truman about the Marine Corps and an apology for his language. The cartoon uses the flag-raising imagery to attach the Marines' wartime record to the dispute, which is the transfer tell; it argues the Corps outlasts criticism.

## 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

```
August 29, 1950
...."The Navy's police force......
They have a propaganda machine
almost equal to Stalin's......."
Harry S. Truman
September 6, 1950
"I sincerely regret the unfor-
tunate choice of language which
I used.... I am profoundly aware
of the magnificent history of the
United States Marine Corps...."
H.S.T.
THEY ALWAYS COME OUT ON TOP
Cartoon by Jim Berryman
The Evening Star
Washington, D.C.
```

[← U.S. Holiday Toll vs. Korean War casualties through Aug. 25: 6,886](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-holiday-toll-korean-war-casualties-1950/) ['Deutscher, hilf den Frieden erhalten' (German, help preserve peace): banner on a state farm, Petkus, East Germany →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/deutscher-hilf-den-frieden-erhalten-petkus-1950/)

## 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)