Haile Selassie - Emperor, Warrior
A biographical panel with a pencil portrait of Haile Selassie and three vignettes: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Lend-Lease cargo being loaded onto a ship, and the Emperor enthroned in a tent. The tell is transfer: Ethiopia is tied to the United Nations and Lend-Lease cause through praise phrases such as 'brave African kingdom'.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles 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
- War and the military, Empire and colonialism, Race and ethnicity
- 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 and Records Administration, Record Group 208, OWI War Effort Cartoon Artworks (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-221 (NAID 535684).
Text on the object
HAILE SELASSIE, "KING OF KINGS," "LION OF JUDAH," CLAIMS DESCENT FROM SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. HAILE SELASSIE EMPEROR ~ WARRIOR WELCOMING ETHIOPIA INTO THE UNITED NATIONS FAMILY, PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT ORDERED LEND-LEASE AID EXTENDED TO THE BRAVE AFRICAN KINGDOM. ETHIOPIA, FIRST NATION TO BE FREED FROM THE AXIS YOKE, HAILED THE RETURN OF HER EMPEROR, AND BECAME THE THIRTIETH MEMBER OF THE UNITED NATIONS. Alston OWI
