Drawing Swords: War in American Editorial Cartoons

Wartime editorial cartoons document a nation's underlying assumptions about the truth of their cause that justifies war and sustains them during the fighting. Increasingly during the past half-century in the United States, they also reflect the doubts and concerns of the opponents of a war. This study is an overview of U.S. editorial cartoons over more than two centuries of wars. Mainstream publications and reprint volumes of the work of major cartoonists were examined to seek patterns in the depiction of the enemy; to investigate the use of stereotypes; and to determine if these wartime cartoons might be considered propaganda.