---
title: 'Propaganda cartoons: what they are and examples, 1900 to 1975'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-cartoons/
description: Propaganda cartoons use caricature and labels to shape opinion. Examples from WWI, WW2 and the Cold War across US, UK, Axis and Soviet issuers, sourced.
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: a dossier collage of an evidence wall of pinned propaganda posters, leaflets and printed matter from many eras, with contact sheets and catalog labels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-collection.jpg)

Collection

# Propaganda cartoons: what they are and examples, 1900 to 1975

Propaganda cartoons use caricature and labels to shape opinion. Examples from WWI, WW2 and the Cold War across US, UK, Axis and Soviet issuers, sourced.

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Propaganda cartoons

[!["Monsieur Cécil Rhodes" (Le Rire cover, 1900)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/le-rire-cecil-rhodes-leandre-1900-640.jpg)"Monsieur Cécil Rhodes" (Le Rire cover, 1900)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/le-rire-cecil-rhodes-leandre-1900/) [![Now for a round-up](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/now-for-a-round-up-iww-1918-640.jpg)Now for a round-up](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/now-for-a-round-up-iww-1918/) [![打死汪精衛，打死漢奸們！ (Beat Wang Jingwei to death, beat the traitors to death!), Kangweijun Pictorial vol. 1 no. 3](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kill-wang-jingwei-kangweijun-pictorial-1939-640.jpg)打死汪精衛，打死漢奸們！ (Beat Wang Jingwei to death, beat the traitors to death!), Kangweijun Pictorial vol. 1 no. 3](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kill-wang-jingwei-kangweijun-pictorial-1939/) [![Crosses in the Wake of Allied Blockade, Japan Times & Advertiser cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/coral-sea-crosses-japan-times-1942-640.jpg)Crosses in the Wake of Allied Blockade, Japan Times & Advertiser cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/coral-sea-crosses-japan-times-1942/) [![On Soviet Scales](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-on-soviet-scales-1949-640.jpg)On Soviet Scales](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-on-soviet-scales-1949/) [![Looked like everybody in Africa was in there waitin' for us!, Ollie Harrington, Daily World cartoon, c.1975](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/harrington-everybody-in-africa-waitin-1975-640.jpg)Looked like everybody in Africa was in there waitin' for us!, Ollie Harrington, Daily World cartoon, c.1975](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/harrington-everybody-in-africa-waitin-1975/)

> **Content note.** Several cartoons here use racial, antisemitic or dehumanising imagery, including a 1936 Arab-press octopus, a 1942 US caricature of Japanese soldiers and 1943 to 1944 Japanese caricatures of Roosevelt. They are shown as issued; showing an item is not endorsing it.

[What are propaganda cartoons?](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-cartoons/#what-are-propaganda-cartoons) [Before 1920](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-cartoons/#before-1920-empire-press-and-war) [Between the wars](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-cartoons/#between-the-wars-parties-and-states) [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-cartoons/#second-world-war-all-sides) [Cold War and after](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-cartoons/#cold-war-and-after) [What the record shows](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-cartoons/#what-the-record-shows)

## What are propaganda cartoons?

Propaganda cartoons are drawings, strips and magazine covers that use caricature, labels and visual metaphor to push an audience toward a view of a person, group or country. The collection holds them from 1900 to 1975 and tests each one the same way: who issued it, what it labels, and which technique carries it.

Humour is the delivery, not the test. A satirical weekly, a ministry and a party daily are described by the same definitions.

**Content note:** Grotesque caricature of Cecil Rhodes with a champagne bottle and share certificates, captioned as Chamberlain's accomplice. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![Le Rire cover caricature of Cecil Rhodes, Paris, 1900](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/le-rire-cecil-rhodes-leandre-1900.jpg)

## Before 1920: empire, press and war

The Paris weekly Le Rire put Charles Léandre's caricature of Cecil Rhodes on its 17 February 1900 cover, with mining shares in his fist ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)), during the Boer War.

![Puck centrefold with French officer, Russian bear and British soldier, 1900](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/puck-reckless-defiance-transvaal-1900.jpg)

![Punch cartoon of Congolese collector in coils of a snake with Leopold II's head, 1906](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/congo-rubber-coils-punch-1906.jpg)

![W. A. Rogers cartoon of Uncle Sam dragging a bundle labelled Spy, Traitor, IWW, 1918](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/now-for-a-round-up-iww-1918.jpg)

![Nebelspalter cartoon of two robed figures holding tablets numbered I to XIV, 1918](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/nebelspalter-prophets-of-a-new-world-1918.jpg)

Explain moreShow less

New York's Puck, in J. S. Pughe's 6 June 1900 centrefold, drew France as a small officer daring Britain from behind a Russian bear ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)).

Punch printed a snake with King Leopold II's head crushing a rubber collector on 28 November 1906, under the caption "The Congo 'Free' State" ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)).

W. A. Rogers's New York Herald cartoon of 9 May 1918, published as the US Sedition Act passed, bundles the IWW with "Spy" and "Traitor" ([Guilt by association](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/guilt-by-association/)).

The Zurich weekly Nebelspalter staged the Fourteen Points as Moses-style tablets in 1918, borrowing biblical authority for a political programme ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)).

![Viktor Deni drawing of Stalin's pipe with figures labelled wrecker, NEPman, kulak, 1930](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/deni-stalins-pipe-1930.jpg)

## Between the wars: parties and states

The Soviet state publisher Gosizdat issued Viktor Deni's 1930 drawing in which smoke carries three tumbling figures tagged "wrecker", "NEPman" and "kulak" ([Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/)).

![L'Humanité cartoon of Painlevé asking for forged Zinoviev letters, 1925](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/painleve-forger-zinoviev-abd-el-krim-humanite-1925.jpg)

![Eulenspiegel cover caricature of Mussolini beside gallows, Berlin, 1928](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/eulenspiegel-caesar-mussolini-girod-1928.jpg)

**Content note:** Antisemitic cartoon depicting 'World Jewry' as an octopus (Star of David on its head) strangling a woman who personifies Palestine. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![Falastin cartoon of an octopus marked with a Star of David around a woman, 1936](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/falastin-palestine-entangled-world-jewry-1936.jpg)

Explain moreShow less

The French Communist daily L'Humanité, on 21 June 1925, drew Premier Painlevé ordering forged diplomatic letters over the Moroccan war ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)).

The Berlin satirical magazine Eulenspiegel put Charles Girod's Mussolini, skull on chest, among gallows on its July 1928 cover ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)).

The Jaffa daily Falastin printed an octopus marked with a Star of David wrapped around a figure of Palestine in 1936, blaming one named group ([Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/)).

![Berryman cartoon of Russia, Japan, Italy and Germany carving a globe, 1940](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-but-adolf-what-about-that-other-nice-piece-1940.jpg)

## Second World War: all sides

Jim Berryman of the Washington Evening Star, on 15 November 1940, drew Axis powers and Russia dividing the Americas between them ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)).

![Punch cartoon of Yugoslav guerrillas on a snowy ridge, 1942](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-jugoslavia-freedom-on-the-heights-punch-1942.jpg)

![Office of War Information cartoon of a caricatured Japanese soldier with a halo and bloody dagger, 1942](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-owi-savior-of-the-darker-races-1942.jpg)

**Content note:** Caricature of a named political leader as an obese figure carrying animals labelled with associates' names, with a slogan calling for his death. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![Kangweijun Pictorial cartoon of Wang Jingwei carrying four animals, 1939](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kill-wang-jingwei-kangweijun-pictorial-1939.jpg)

![Slovak newspaper strip of Stalin ordering Churchill to open a second front, 1942](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/churchill-stalin-dieppe-ludove-noviny-1942.jpg)

**Content note:** Wartime cartoon showing a graveyard of crosses named for British and American warships, with an Uncle Sam caricature. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![Japan Times cartoon of crosses labelled with Allied warships, 1942](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/coral-sea-crosses-japan-times-1942.jpg)

![Djawa Baroe cartoon of Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek, 1943](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/roosevelt-churchill-chiang-cartoon-djawa-baroe-1943.jpg)

**Content note:** Wartime Japanese magazine cover with a caricature of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (exaggerated jaw, buck tooth, sweat drop). This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![Manga magazine cover caricature of Roosevelt, Tokyo, 1943](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/manga-magazine-roosevelt-cover-1943.jpg)

![Manga cartoon of a horned ogre drawing aside a mask with Roosevelt's features, 1944](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/japan-naming-the-western-barbarians-manga-1944.jpg)

Explain moreShow less

Punch ran L. G. Illingworth's 1942 drawing of Yugoslav partisans above a German-held valley under the heading "Freedom on the Heights" ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)).

The US Office of War Information circulated Charles Alston's 1942 cartoon of a Japanese soldier with a halo and a dagger, a claim about Japan's "liberation" of Asia ([Accusation in a mirror](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/accusation-in-a-mirror/)). See also [American propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/american-propaganda-posters/).

A Zhejiang provincial anti-enemy propaganda office printed Wang Jingwei as an obese figure carrying animals labelled with his associates' names in 1939 ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)). See [Chinese propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/chinese-propaganda-posters/).

Ľudové noviny, a newspaper of the wartime Slovak Republic, ran a three-strip cartoon in August 1942 on Stalin, Churchill and Dieppe ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)).

The Japan Times & Advertiser printed a graveyard of crosses named for British and American warships on 13 May 1942, selecting losses and omitting the rest ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)).

The Japanese military administration of Java used the magazine Djawa Baroe on 1 June 1943 to draw the three Allied leaders as a tangle ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)).

The Tokyo monthly Manga carried a flushed, buck-toothed Roosevelt on its August 1943 cover ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)).

By October 1944 Manga drew Roosevelt as a mask worn by a fanged ogre ([Dehumanization](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/dehumanization/)). Compare [Japanese propaganda of WW2](https://propagandaarchive.org/japanese-propaganda-ww2/).

![Berryman cartoon of a hammer-and-sickle scale weighing Christianity against police state, 1949](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-on-soviet-scales-1949.jpg)

## Cold War and after

Berryman's 9 February 1949 cartoon sets a cross on one pan of a hammer-and-sickle scale and a pistol marked "police state" below it ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)).

![East German panel with obese US soldier in horned helmet, 1952](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-us-soldier-caricature-panel-1952.jpg)

![Shooresh cartoon of a worker, a vote count and three gallows, Tehran, 1953](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/shooresh-referendum-gallows-cartoon-1953.jpg)

![East Berlin boards with cartoon of Krupp in a suitcase of rockets, 1957](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gdr-adenauer-krupp-cartoon-boards-berlin-1957.jpg)

![US psychological operations leaflet with Mao seated on North Vietnamese rice, 1966](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/demoralization-leaflet-26-mao-rice-1966.jpg)

![Ollie Harrington cartoon of a South African tank and a signpost to Angola, 1975](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/harrington-everybody-in-africa-waitin-1975.jpg)

Explain moreShow less

An East German display panel of 1952 shows an obese US soldier in a horned helmet shouting at a German woman ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)). Its sponsor is not named.

Tehran's Shooresh newspaper, on 8 August 1953, held up a vote tally in front of gallows labelled with opponents' names ([Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)).

Open-air boards in East Berlin in 1957 set a crowned "Krupp" over war-dead figures for 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945 ([Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/)).

US forces' JUSPAO/MACV leaflet 26 of 1966 drew Mao sitting on sacks of North Vietnamese rice ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)).

Ollie Harrington's 1975 Daily World cartoon places a South African tank on a road to Angola ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)).

## What the record shows

The same techniques recur across Washington, London, Moscow, Tokyo, Berlin and Tehran: labels, animal bodies, borrowed symbols. Scale and intent differ. A magazine cover reached a newsstand; a state office or ministry could print and post at national scale, and some issuers here were private satirists with no state behind them.

For wider surveys see [propaganda art](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-art/), [Soviet propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/soviet-propaganda-posters/) and [British propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/british-propaganda-posters/).

## Cartoons in the collection

Showing 29 of 29 objects. [Filter the whole collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/).

- ["Monsieur Cécil Rhodes" (Le Rire cover, 1900)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/le-rire-cecil-rhodes-leandre-1900/) (France · Feb 17, 1900 · Name-calling)
- [Reckless Defiance: France and Russia Against Britain](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-reckless-defiance-transvaal-1900/) (United States · Jun 6, 1900 · Name-calling)
- ["In the Rubber Coils" (Punch, 1906)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/congo-rubber-coils-punch-1906/) (United Kingdom · Nov 28, 1906 · Transfer, Name-calling). Content note: Period caricature of a rubber collector crushed by a snake with Leopold II's head.
- [The Modern Civilization of Europe: France in Morocco & England in Egypt (Cairo Punch supplement)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cairo-punch-modern-civilization-of-europe-1908/) (Egypt · 1908 · Card stacking). Content note: Allegorical colour cartoon with skeletons, a bloodied corpse and a hanged figure, depicting French and British colonial violence.
- ["Propheten einer neuen Welt" (Nebelspalter cartoon, 1918)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nebelspalter-prophets-of-a-new-world-1918/) (Switzerland · 1918 · Transfer)
- [Now for a round-up](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/now-for-a-round-up-iww-1918/) (United States · May 9, 1918 · Name-calling, Transfer, Guilt by association)
- ["Die Wiege des Völkerbundes" (Simplicissimus cartoon, 1919)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/simplicissimus-wiege-des-voelkerbundes-1919/) (Weimar Germany · Mar 11, 1919 · Transfer)
- ["La guerre du Maroc, suite": Painlevé orders forged Zinoviev letters (L'Humanité, 21 June 1925)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/painleve-forger-zinoviev-abd-el-krim-humanite-1925/) (France · Jun 21, 1925 · Name-calling)
- [Eulenspiegel cover, July 1928: 'Caesar Mussolini' by Charles Girod](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eulenspiegel-caesar-mussolini-girod-1928/) (Weimar Germany · Jul 1928 · Name-calling). Content note: Caricature of Mussolini wearing a skull pendant, with gallows in the background.
- [Stalin's Pipe (Trubka Stalina)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/deni-stalins-pipe-1930/) (Soviet Union · 1930 · Name-calling, Scapegoating). Content note: Soviet drawing of a wrecker, NEPman and kulak as caricatures blown away by Stalin's pipe smoke.
- [Palestine Entangled by World Jewry (Falastin newspaper cartoon)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/falastin-palestine-entangled-world-jewry-1936/) (Mandatory Palestine · 1936 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal). Content note: Antisemitic caricature: an octopus labelled 'World Jewry' with Star of David markings, entangling a woman.
- [打死汪精衛，打死漢奸們！ (Beat Wang Jingwei to death, beat the traitors to death!), Kangweijun Pictorial vol. 1 no. 3](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kill-wang-jingwei-kangweijun-pictorial-1939/) (China · 1939 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Chorus: ...But Adolf! What about that other nice piece?](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-but-adolf-what-about-that-other-nice-piece-1940/) (United States · Nov 15, 1940 · Fear appeal). Content note: Axis leaders and a figure labelled Russia are caricatured at a dinner table carving a globe, with Hitler's speech rendered in a mock German accent, as published.
- [Churchill and Stalin, 14-23 August (Dieppe), Ľudové noviny](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/churchill-stalin-dieppe-ludove-noviny-1942/) (Slovak Republic · 1942 · Name-calling). Content note: Demeaning caricatures of Stalin and Churchill with a Slovak newspaper account of the 1942 Dieppe raid.
- [Jugoslavia: Freedom on the Heights (Punch, 21 January 1942)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-jugoslavia-freedom-on-the-heights-punch-1942/) (United Kingdom · 1942 · Glittering generalities)
- [The Savior of the Darker Races](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-savior-of-the-darker-races-1942/) (United States · 1942 · Name-calling, Accusation in a mirror). Content note: A racial caricature of a Japanese soldier holding a broken chain and a bloodied dagger, as published by the Office of War Information for the Black press.
- [Crosses in the Wake of Allied Blockade, Japan Times & Advertiser cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/coral-sea-crosses-japan-times-1942/) (Empire of Japan · May 13, 1942 · Card stacking)
- [We Have Not Died in Vain!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-we-have-not-died-in-vain-1943/) (United States · 1943 · Transfer)
- [Cartoon of Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek, Djawa Baroe, Java (1 June 1943)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/roosevelt-churchill-chiang-cartoon-djawa-baroe-1943/) (Empire of Japan · Jun 1, 1943 · Name-calling). Content note: Wartime caricature of three named Allied leaders with distorted faces.
- [Cover of the Japanese magazine Manga (漫画), August 1943: caricature of Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/manga-magazine-roosevelt-cover-1943/) (Empire of Japan · Aug 1, 1943 · Name-calling)
- [Cartoon of a horned, skull-necklaced ogre and a Roosevelt-faced figure, Manga (Japan, October 1944)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japan-naming-the-western-barbarians-manga-1944/) (Empire of Japan · Oct 1944 · Dehumanization, Name-calling). Content note: Japanese wartime manga page with a dehumanising demon caricature of Franklin Roosevelt, shown as published.
- [If you want to learn the business, I can show you the route (Santa and the G.O.P. sack)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-santa-gop-sleigh-1946/) (United States · Dec 24, 1946 · Transfer)
- [On Soviet Scales](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-on-soviet-scales-1949/) (United States · Feb 9, 1949 · Fear appeal)
- [Caricature panel of a US soldier with workers at an exit door, Rössing photograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-us-soldier-caricature-panel-1952/) (East Germany · 1952 · Name-calling). Content note: Caricature of a US soldier as an obese, shouting figure in a horned helmet; East German display panel.
- [Shooresh cartoon on the 1953 dissolution referendum: "155544 votes in favour" and opponents before gallows](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/shooresh-referendum-gallows-cartoon-1953/) (Iran · Aug 8, 1953 · Bandwagon, Name-calling). Content note: Newspaper cartoon showing named political opponents filing toward gallows with nooses hanging.
- [Adenauer and Krupp cartoon boards, open-air display, Rathausstrasse, East Berlin](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gdr-adenauer-krupp-cartoon-boards-berlin-1957/) (East Germany · 1957 · Name-calling, Scapegoating). Content note: Caricatures of Konrad Adenauer and of the Krupp arms firm as profiteers of war, with rhymed text about death tolls and atomic rockets.
- [Soviet Scales of Justice](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-soviet-scales-of-justice-1960/) (United States · Aug 16, 1960 · Name-calling)
- [Demoralization Leaflet 26: Gạo Bắc Việt (North Vietnamese Rice) cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/demoralization-leaflet-26-mao-rice-1966/) (United States · 1966 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Cartoon depicting enemy soldiers with animal heads, a bloody trident and a skull.
- [Looked like everybody in Africa was in there waitin' for us!, Ollie Harrington, Daily World cartoon, c.1975](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/harrington-everybody-in-africa-waitin-1975/) (United States · 1975 · Transfer)