Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Smothered!, 1956 US cartoon: A stack of papers labelled Amendments, Boondoggles and Civil Rights Issue lies on top of a book

Smothered!

A stack of papers labelled Amendments, Boondoggles and Civil Rights Issue lies on top of a book marked Readin', a pencil marked 'Ritin' and a second book marked 'Rithmetic, which are being crushed under it. The tell is card-stacking by juxtaposition: legislative controversies are set against basic schooling, so the picture argues that one displaces the other.

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Card stacking
Date
July 7, 1956
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
Persuade or win support
Themes
Race and ethnicity, Elections and party politics
Event
Civil Rights Legislation 1956
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
U.S. National Archives, 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, 5743224 (NAID 5743224).

Text on the object

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

Amendments
Boondoggles
Civil Rights Issue
READIN'
'RITIN'
'RITHMETIC
JIM BERRYMAN WASHINGTON STAR

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