A Presiding Officer who Plays No Favorites
An empty Senate chamber seen from the gallery, with the presiding officer's chair vacant while an enormous hooded, shrouded figure leans over the rostrum and strikes the gavel. The cartoon's title and image argue that the figure, rather than any person, now holds the chair; the technique fit is weak, a fear-appeal at most, resting on the shrouded figure as a symbol of mortality.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- July 15, 1937
- Period
- Interwar
- Made by
- Washington Evening Star (cartoonist Jim Berryman)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- Elections and party politics
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 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, 5743108 (NAID 5743108).
