TOW #2 - Communism: America's Mortal Enemy

In this cartoon, Dr. Fred Schwarz advocates for anti-communism in America.  Fred Schwarz was an Australian physician and political activist, who started the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade (CACC).  He became popular in the USA in the 1950's, specifically in California.  This cartoon was printed in 1956, right when McCarthyism was booming. Geared towards American citizens at the time, his main goal of this cartoon was to show how communism would negatively affect America.  This is shown through many rhetorical devices that Schwarz used known as symbolism and pathos.  Through the use of the drawing, Schwarz displays symbolism in its entirety.  The arm has the communist symbol written on it, while holding a knife, which is cutting directly through the country of America.  This symbolism is used to show that if communism enters our society our nation will fall apart and be destroyed which enhances the author’s purpose.  Another rhetorical device that Fred Schwarz uses is the appeal to pathos.  The author attempts to evoke emotions by comparing communism to “America’s Mortal Enemy.”  The use of this strong diction is an attempt to make the reader feel afraid or scared of the idea of communism.  Again, helping Schwarz promote the idea of anti-communism.  These types of political cartoons were extremely evident in this time period of America.  America needed all the help they could get to end the idea of communism in order to protect their democratic government.  Without these political cartoons, people’s opinions and emotions would not have been swayed, causing more room for communism to grow.  Many political cartoons like this one, helped to give the word communism a negative connotation which helped this anti-communist movement.  With the strategic use of these devices, Fred Schwarz achieved his purpose in convincing Americans if communism enters America, that it will have an extreme negative effect on the nation.  After looking at this cartoon, I felt that if I was in this time period that I would feel convinced of Fred Schwarz’s views.