Political Cartoons

The Cold War

Look at this political cartoon:

What makes a good political cartoon?

• A recognizable issue• Symbols• Exaggeration• Humor & Irony• Captions• Point of View• Caricatures (funny portraits)

Ch. 31, Sec. 5 Recognizable Issues:

Key figures of the Cold War: Stalin, Truman, etc.

Churchill’s “iron curtain”

Truman Doctrine

Containment

The Marshall Plan

Divisions in Germany

Berlin Airlift

Military Alliances: NATO, Warsaw Pact

The Arms Race

The Propaganda War

Symbols

•

Exaggeration

Humor and Irony

Captions

Point of View

Caricature

The political cartoon above shows a person on the eastern block of the Iron-Curtain that was trying to escape to the western side. The cartoon also shows the lack of total effort on the western side to free people separated by the Iron-Curtain. The cartoon was probably made to show members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Community on the west with the United States that they needed to take extreme actions to free the people in need and not avoid confrontation any longer. The author if this cartoon appears to be an opponent of isolationism and not wanting a reoccurrence of American indifference, like it showed in the beginning of World War II.

1. What symbols, objects, people, and actions do you see in the cartoon?

2. What historical event(s) is the cartoon connected with?

3. What is the intended message of the cartoon?