---
title: Untitled (Babel quotation over the U.N. building)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-untitled-babel-united-nations-1958/
description: A tall modern slab building has the letters 'U.N.' struck through at its top and a large panel on its face quoting scripture.
section: Collection
---

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3. Untitled (Babel quotation over the U.N. building)

[![Untitled, 1958 US cartoon: A tall modern slab building has the letters 'U.N.' struck through at its top and a large panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-untitled-babel-united-nations-1958.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-untitled-babel-united-nations-1958.jpg)

# Untitled (Babel quotation over the U.N. building)

A tall modern slab building has the letters 'U.N.' struck through at its top and a large panel on its face quoting scripture: 'Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth...'. The cartoon argues by scriptural analogy that the organisation is a modern Babel; the tell is transfer, borrowing the authority of a Bible verse (Genesis 11:9) for a political judgement.

## 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

```
U.N. (struck through)
"Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth..."
JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR
```

[← You Stir...I'll Season!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-you-stir-ill-season-1958/) [With this Issue I couldn't lose →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/faubus-wins-landslide-bayonet-berryman-1958/)

## 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)