"Good Government vs. Revolution: An Easy Choice" (Puck centerfold, 17 April 1901)
A woman with a fan marked 'Cuba' takes Uncle Sam's arm in a palm garden rather than going to a dandified Cuban man in a sash marked 'Revolution'. The tell: two suitors are offered, and the choice is called easy before the viewer has been told what either would give her.
Puck, published by Keppler & Schwarzmann in New York, ran this centrefold cartoon on 17 April 1901, while the Cuban Constitutional Convention was debating whether to accept the Platt Amendment. A woman with a fan marked "Cuba" takes Uncle Sam's arm in a palm garden instead of going to a dandified man in a sash marked "Revolution". The title calls the choice "An Easy Choice" and names the alternatives "Good Government" and "Revolution". That is a false dilemma: two options are offered as the only ones, and the viewer is told which to take before either is described.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- April 17, 1901
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- Puck (Keppler & Schwarzmann, New York)
Full record
Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Mckinley Administration
- Leader
- William Mckinley
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Empire and colonialism, Elections and party politics
- Event
- US Occupation of Cuba
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, retrieved October 10, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (published 1901, before 1931); LoC: no known restrictions on publication
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LCCN 2010651401. "Good Government vs. Revolution: An Easy Choice" (Puck centerfold, 17 April 1901)
