Name
Class
Date
Political Cartoons
Cartoon 31
Brinkmanship
John Foster Dulles was
the U.S. Secretary of State
at the time. Dulles argued
that the United States
might have to come to the
brink of war to stop communism, an idea known
as brinkmanship.
This cartoon appeared
in 1958, when antiCommunist sentiment was
high among Americans.
At the same time, many
Americans feared a nuclear conflict.
from Herblock’s Special for Today (Simon & Schuster, 1958)
ANALYZING POLITICAL CARTOONS
Study the political cartoon, and then answer the questions that follow.
1. What does “the Brink” refer to?
2. What does Dulles’s Superman outfit suggest?
3. What does the caption suggest about Dulles’s brinkmanship policy?
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
31
U.S. History Political Cartoons Activities