Stop Criminal!, 1950 US poster: A cartoon of a club-wielding soldier in a fur hat with a red star, labelled 'Communist

Stop Criminal! (Chinese-language poster distributed in Asia)

A cartoon of a club-wielding soldier in a fur hat with a red star, labelled 'Communist aggressors', standing over a bloodied figure labelled 'Republic of Korea', while a giant hand marked 'U.N.' reaches in and a ring of small figures carries national flags. The text says 53 nations condemn the Communist invasion of the Republic of Korea and that peace comes through the United Nations. The tell is name-calling (the label 'communist aggressors' on a brutish figure) with bandwagon (the claim that 53 nations stand together) and fear-appeal in the blood and club imagery.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Name-calling Bandwagon Fear appeal

Date: 1950
Period: Cold War
Made by: U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia series
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Truman Administration
Leader: Harry S. Truman
Audience: Foreign public
Purpose: Persuade or win support
Theme: War and the military
Event: Korean War
Source: Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
Source: U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights: Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, c. 1950-55. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 5730085, 306-PPA-186).

Text on the object

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

罪徒！住手！

[on the hand:] 聯合國
[on the soldier:] 共黨侵略者
[on the fallen figure:] 大韓民國

五十三個聯合國國家
譴責共產黨侵入大韓
民國的罪行！
北韓戰爭製造者將被
阻遏！
経由聯合國獲致和平！

[handwritten, upper left:] Chinese

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

Criminal! Stop!

[on the hand:] United Nations
[on the soldier:] Communist aggressor
[on the fallen figure:] Republic of Korea

Fifty-three United Nations countries condemn the crime of the Communist Party invading the Republic of Korea!
The North Korean war-makers will be stopped!
Through the United Nations, peace is obtained!

[handwritten:] Chinese

Vertical right-to-left columns; column breaks flattened. The printed form 経 is kept.