Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
It's Time to Lay This Needle Aside!, 1955 US cartoon: A vial labelled 'POLIO VACCINE' stands on a folder marked 'DISTRIBUTION

It's Time to Lay This Needle Aside!

A vial labelled 'POLIO VACCINE' stands on a folder marked 'DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM' beneath a US eagle-and-shield emblem, while a syringe labelled 'POLITICS' lies across the folder. The cartoon argues, through the title and the labelled syringe, that politics should be set aside in the polio vaccine distribution program; the technique is a labelled-object metaphor that frames one side of a policy dispute, a weak fit for 'card-stacking'.

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Card stacking
Date
May 18, 1955
Period
Cold War
Made by
Washington Evening Star (cartoonist Jim Berryman)
Region
North America
Country
United States
Medium
Cartoon
Issuer type
Media
Regime
Eisenhower Administration
Leader
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Warn or inform
Themes
Health, Elections and party politics
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, 5743204 (NAID 5743204).

Text on the object

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

POLIO
VACCINE

DISTRIBUTION
PROGRAM

POLITICS

JIM BERRYMAN  WASHINGTON STAR

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