Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Back to Normalcy, 1945 US cartoon: A father sits dazed beside a car with a flat tire and a leaking radiator, while a woman

Back to Normalcy

A father sits dazed beside a car with a flat tire and a leaking radiator, while a woman holds sunburn lotion, a boy pokes a hornets' nest, a girl cries and billboards read 'Smoke Kayoes, the cigarette that picks you up... and drops you in a corner!' and 'Stop! 200 yds. ahead the Greasy Skillet'. The cartoon argues, humorously, that the return of holiday motoring brings a pile-up of small misfortunes; a weak fit for card-stacking (only the mishaps are shown).

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Card stacking
Date
September 3, 1945
Period
Second World War
Made by
Washington Evening Star (cartoonist Jim Berryman)
Region
North America
Country
United States
Medium
Cartoon
Issuer type
Media
Regime
Truman Administration
Leader
Harry S. Truman
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Warn or inform
Themes
Home front, Economy and finance
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, 5743135 (NAID 5743135).

Text on the object

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

STOP!.... 200 YDS. AHEAD The GREASY SKILLET
Smoke Kayoes THE CIGARETTE THAT PICKS YOU UP.... AND DROPS YOU IN A CORNER!
SUNBURN LOTION
Jim Berryman

More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouchesNew Kingdom EgyptFragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches0000 · Card stacking, TransferBehistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of AhuramazdaAchaemenid EmpireBehistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, TestimonialContent noteTomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCEAchaemenid EmpireTomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE0000 · Testimonial, Card stackingLine drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of EgyptNew Kingdom EgyptLine drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt0000 · Card stacking, TransferContent notePersepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCEAchaemenid EmpirePersepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensusAlabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)Neo Assyrian EmpireAlabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)0000 · Card stackingContent noteColour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)Roman EmpireColour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalitiesSilver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning womanRoman EmpireSilver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman0070 · Card stackingContent note