The Nuclear Threat in Representations of Soviet and American Cartoonists During the Cold War: Similarities and Differences

This article contributes to the study of Atomic age culture, which has not yet to form a distinct field within Russian historiography. Adopting a constructivist approach, the author explores the role of the nuclear threat in shaping Soviet and American identities during the Cold War. Drawing on the works of prominent Soviet and U. S. cartoonists, the study employs discourse analysis to identify the repertoire of meanings within the visual “nuclear discourse”. Complementing this, a semiotic analysis helps to decode the symbolic system of nuclear imagery in political cartoons. The author concludes that depictions of the nuclear threat in both Soviet and American cartoons equally visualized the fundamental antitheses of the “Cold War of images”, while also underscoring differences in the political cultures of the USSR and the United States — particularly regarding freedom of expression on nuclear issues whether by scientists, journalists, or cartoonists.