Tough Course for a young skipper to chart

A graduate in a cap labelled 'June Grad', rowing a boat made from a rolled 'Degree', steers through a storm labelled 'Nuclear Dangers' past rocks marked 'Inflation', 'Job Shortage' and 'World Unrest' and a shark fin marked 'Communist Advances'. The cartoon argues new graduates face a hazardous course; the tell is fear-appeal, with threats listed as a sequence of hazards.

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Fear appeal

Date

June 9, 1961

Period

Cold War

Made by

Washington Evening Star (cartoonist Jim Berryman)

Region

North America

Country

United States

Medium

Cartoon

Issuer type

Media

Regime

Kennedy Administration

Leader

John F. Kennedy

Audience

Domestic public

Purpose

Warn or inform

Themes

Economy and finance, Security and surveillance, War and the military

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, 5743292 (NAID 5743292).

NUCLEAR DANGERS
JUNE GRAD
DEGREE
INFLATION
JOB SHORTAGE
WORLD UNREST
COMMUNIST ADVANCES
JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR