This Fight is a Family Affair [2], 1939 US print: Three captioned cartoons on a magazine page show 'Ivan the rumormonger'

This Fight is a Family Affair [2] (Speaking of Pictures, 'Ivan the rumormonger', magazine page 13)

Three captioned cartoons on a magazine page show 'Ivan the rumormonger' with a long tongue that a Nazi spy writes down, a citizen petting a 'Nazi spy wolf' as a lamb, and a rumour (a fly) swelling into an elephant. The tell is the stock-figure label 'Ivan' and the spy-listening-in framing, which present repeating gossip as help to the enemy. The right half of the page is a commercial laxative advertisement.

Propaganda techniques used in this print

Name-calling Fear appeal

Date: 1939
Period: Second World War
Made by: Magazine feature 'Speaking of Pictures' (publisher not printed on the page); facing advertisement for Sal Hepatica, Bristol-Myers
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Print
Issuer type: Media
Regime: Roosevelt Administration
Leader: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Warn or inform
Themes: War and the military, Home front
Event: World War II
Regime: Roosevelt administration
Leader: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights: Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision (undated magazine page, no rights statement)
Magazine page, publisher not printed, National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-877c.

Text on the object

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

SPEAKING OF PICTURES (continued)

Ivan the rumormonger uses his abnormally long tongue to spread gossip. Note Nazi spy crouched beneath the winding tongue, taking down notes.

Another type of enemy as bad as Ivan is Russian citizen who wears rose-colored glasses and sees the "Nazi spy wolf" as a "harmless little lamb."

Ivan distorts a war rumor. The rumor, symbolized by a fly, enters his right ear, passes through his vacuous skull, emerges as a full-blown elephant.

[right half of page: advertisement] Lew breaks up the meeting ... Ned clears the bottle neck ... Whenever you need a laxative -take gentle, speedy Sal Hepatica ... SAL HEPATICA Product of Bristol-Myers ... TUNE IN "Those We Love"-Wednesdays at 9 P.M. EWT. Nan Grey and Donald Woods in an appealing drama by Agnes Ridgway.  13