Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Explorer Mat Henson - Only Living American to Set Foot on the North Pole, 1943 US cartoon: A pencil biographical panel shows

Explorer Mat Henson - Only Living American to Set Foot on the North Pole

A pencil biographical panel shows a hooded portrait of Mat Henson and four vignettes: Henson and a companion in a jungle, three figures in furs by an igloo, and a figure planting a flag on the ice. Captions describe his career with Peary and quote Commander MacMillan that Henson planted the flag while Peary sat exhausted on the sledge. The technique is a weak fit for card-stacking: the panel presents one favourable account of a disputed polar claim without competing views.

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Card stacking
Date
1943
Period
Second World War
Made by
Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Henry Alston)
Region
North America
Country
United States
Medium
Cartoon
Issuer type
State
Regime
Roosevelt Administration
Leader
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Persuade or win support
Themes
Home front, Race and ethnicity, Science and technology
Event
World War II
Regime
Roosevelt administration
Leader
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
U.S. National Archives, RG 208, Artworks and Mockups for War Effort Cartoons, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-225 (NAID 535688).

Text on the object

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

EXPLORER
MAT HENSON
ONLY LIVING AMERICAN TO SET FOOT ON THE NORTH POLE.

HENSON, FAMED AS AN ARCTIC EXPLORER, BEGAN HIS CAREER IN THE JUNGLES OF CENTRAL AMERICA! - PEARY, SO IMPRESSED WITH YOUNG HENSON'S ABILITY, KEPT HIM AS HIS LIEUTENANT ON ALL HIS SUBSEQUENT EXPLORATIONS.

HENSON'S GREAT KNOWLEDGE OF ESKIMO LIFE AND LANGUAGE, AND HIS ENGAGING PERSONALITY, MADE HIM THE MOST INDISPENSABLE MEMBER OF THE EXPEDITION. - FOR THE FINAL DASH TO THE POLE, PEARY CHOSE FIVE MEN - FOUR ESKIMOS AND MAT HENSON!

ACCORDING TO COMMANDER MACMILLAN, IT WAS HENSON, WHO ACTUALLY PLANTED THE STARS AND STRIPES ON TOP OF THE WORLD, WHILE PEARY, EXHAUSTED AND ILL, SAT ON THE SLEDGE AND FEEBLY WAVED HIS HAND

[signature] Alston for OWI

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