---
title: Old Man '40 Wasn't All Bad
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/old-man-40-wasnt-all-bad-berryman-1940/
description: 'Uncle Sam, feet on a desk, reads two sheets headed ''1940''s Highlights'': page 1 lists war threats, re-armament, higher taxes and other troubles.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Old Man '40 Wasn't All Bad

[![Old Man '40 Wasn't All Bad, 1940 US cartoon: Uncle Sam, feet on a desk, reads two sheets headed '1940's Highlights': page 1](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/old-man-40-wasnt-all-bad-berryman-1940.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/old-man-40-wasnt-all-bad-berryman-1940.jpg)

# Old Man '40 Wasn't All Bad

Uncle Sam, feet on a desk, reads two sheets headed '1940's Highlights': page 1 lists war threats, re-armament, higher taxes and other troubles, page 2 lists sports and leisure items, and he says page 2 is much better reading. The tell is card-stacking by selection: two lists of items of different kinds are set side by side and the cartoon argues for the lighter one.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
WELL, I MUST SAY THIS IS MUCH BETTER READING THAN PAGE 1 !

1940's HIGHLIGHTS (PAGE 2)
WORLD'S SERIES WITHOUT A NEW YORK TEAM
INCREASED POPULARITY OF PRO FOOTBALL
GREATEST OF ALL FISHING YEARS
LARGEST DUCKPIN TOURNEY IN HISTORY (Star's)
KEENER COMPETITION IN GOLF WORLD
NEW HIGHS IN COLLEGE SPORTS
RISE OF ICE SKATING....

1940's HIGHLIGHTS (PAGE 1)
WAR THREATS
RE-ARMAMENT
HIGHER TAXES
CAMPAIGN MUD-SLINGING
FLOODS
SABOTAGE
AIR DISASTERS
LABOR TROUBLES
CURTAILED FOREIGN COMMERCE

Jim Berryman
```

[← He can do this --- but what can he do about this?](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-he-can-do-this-but-what-can-he-do-about-this-1940/) [A Better Home →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/a-better-home-rea-beall-1941/)

## 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)
- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [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.
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.