It's A Good Act But It's Hard On The Spectators

This cartoon shows Adolf Hitler balancing the world on the tip of a rifle balanced on the tip of his nose as nervous spectators including Uncle Sam, John Bull (representing the United Kingdom), and a caricature of France watch. It conveys how Europe and the world were facing the threat of war as Hitler put new demands on Poland to give the free city of Danzig to Germany.

By late summer of 1939, Hitler’s army was on the march. This cartoon was published the day after Germany seized control of Slovakia, and as 100,000 German and Slovak troops massed along the Polish border ready to invade. Given the recent history of war, these events raised alarm in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, represented by the figures in this image. Previously, Hitler had defied the Treaty of Versailles by moving troops into the Rhineland. Two years later, Germany had forcibly taken over Austria. The severity of response shown by the three figures in the cartoon reflects their nearness to Germany — France is the most frightened.

Two days after this cartoon was published, the Soviet Union and Germany announced a non-aggression pact, destroying hopes of a British, French, and Soviet alliance to restrain German expansion and clearing the way for the Nazi invasion of Poland. The cartoon shows Uncle Sam’s worry that American policies of isolation and neutrality would not insulate the country from the Nazi threat.

This cartoon was drawn by Clifford Berryman, one of Washington, DC's best-known cartoonists in the early to mid-1900s. Berryman drew for the Washington Post and Evening Star newspapers. His cartoons touched on a variety of subjects including politics, elections, and both World Wars.

This cartoon is featured in America and the World: Foreign Affairs in Political Cartoons, 1898–1940, a free PDF book from the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives.