Stunning and huge (45,5cm x 59cm!!!) inked illustration by the one and only Walt Kelly. Kelly is mostly known for his most famous creation, Pogo, but was also a quite prolific political cartoonist. While he tackled political topics with Pogo, he could bring it to full swing with his editorial cartoons...only very few of these still exist today... This magnificent example, which was published in Life magazine May 12th 1952, accompanied the famous political article „A Policy of Boldness“ by former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. If one had to summarize the cartoon in one sentence...the communists, led by Stalin, under the pretense of peace are leading the free countries (including the US) to their doom (or into communism themselves).
Many prominent politicians of the time can be seen...the following I was able to pinpoint with the help of Wikipedia:
- Lower left with „Iran“ writing over him: Mohammad Mosaddegh (1882 – 1967) was the 35th prime minister of Iran, holding office from 1951 until 1953, when his government was overthrown in a coup d'état orchestrated by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency and the United Kingdom's MI6.
- Lower left with Tito written over him: Josip Broz (1892 – 1980), commonly known as Tito, was a Yugoslavian communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various roles from 1943 until his death in 1980. During World War II, he was the leader of the Partisans, often regarded as the most effective resistance movement in occupied Europe. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian and concerns about the repression of political opponents have been raised, most Yugoslavs considered him popular and a benevolent dictator.
- Lower left with „Nehru“ on his hat: Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 – 1964) was a freedom fighter, the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics before and after independence. He emerged as an eminent leader of the Indian independence movement under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi and served India as Prime Minister from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964. He is considered to be the architect of the modern Indian nation-state: a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic.
- Person in the rocking chair with the pipe: Joseph Stalin (1878 – 1953) was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Georgian ethnicity. He led the Soviet Union from the mid–1920s until 1953 as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–1952) and Premier (1941–1953). While initially presiding over a collective leadership as first among equals, he ultimately consolidated enough power to become the country's de facto dictator by the 1930s.
- Person with the USA flag: Harry S. Truman (1884 – 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953, succeeding upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt after serving as vice president. He implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, and established the Truman Doctrine and NATO.
