Bully of the Bloc 

• 1954 
• Packer, Fred 
• Drawing 
• Historical item 

5892063

Drawings / paintings

Bully of the Bloc

56 x 38 cm

1954

Original editorial cartoon on card in ink and crayon for the New York Daily Mirror, 1954, shows Uncle Sam walking with France and Britain (John Bull) following a sign in the direction of ‘West German Rearmament’. Discussion of West German rearmament did not go down well in the Soviet Union, and Georgi Malenkov, then frontrunner in the succession to Stalin (who had died in 1953), is shown threatening ‘England’ and ‘France’: ‘Just wait till I catch you two guys alone’. A figure representing China stands behind Malenkov and both are on the other side of an ‘iron’ wall. Uncle Sam walks on steadfastly but the West Europeans are visibly nervous about the Soviet threat. In December 1954 France accepted West Germany’s membership of NATO, thus accepting the idea of German rearmament (even though the French were themselves ambiguous on the issue). The Americans and the new West German government under Adenauer were concerned that the 30-plus Soviet divisions deployed east of the iron curtain were superior to the armies of the West in terms of both manpower and equipment. Though the Three Western Powers agreed with Adenauer's concerns about the Soviet threat and saw the need for German armed forces, they had not dared to say so publicly. Soviet and Chinese involvement in the Korean War changed all this, demonstrating what the west viewed as communist aggression against which the west had to defend itself, even to the extent of rearming Germany, which was after all the front line of defence against attack from the east. Also suggested here is that without the Americans the West Europeans would be defenceless against the Soviets, but Malenkov or his successors would never catch them ‘alone’. Card size 56 x 38 cm (22 x 15 inch), image size 46 x 30 cm, signed lower right, date stamped 21 December 1954 in upper border. On verso is a sticker from the Los Angeles Department of Municipal Art (with the caption) where this drawing was exhibited (3 to 21 Oct 55). In very good condition.