You mean I can't take 'em on one at a time?
In a boxing ring, a small bespectacled boxer labelled 'J. Public' is coached in his corner by a man in glasses and a bow tie, while two opponents wait: a muscular figure labelled 'Communism in Europe' and a scowling one labelled 'Inflation at Home'. J. Public says 'You mean I can't take 'em on one at a time?' The tell is fear-appeal: two threats are staged together against a small citizen, leaving no choice of sequence.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- November 19, 1947
- 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
- Economy and finance, 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, 5743141 (NAID 5743141).
Text on the object
YOU MEAN I CAN'T TAKE 'EM ON ONE AT A TIME? INFLATION AT HOME COMMUNISM IN EUROPE J. PUBLIC Jim Berryman
