"Sleep Baby, Sleep"
Context and Essential QuestionPresident Kennedy believed in the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction and worked throughout his presidency to ensure that the theory would not be tested. In failing to achieve a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty agreement in Vienna and then the break down of nuclear arms discussions at the Geneva Conventions in 1961, the Soviet Union resumed atmospheric testing. The United States was then forced into testing weapons in the atmosphere so as not to appear weak or to fall behind technologically. With the resumption of testing, political cartoonist “Herblock” personified the fear of nuclear war and echoed Kennedy’s concerns.
Essential Question: Who is responsible for preventing nuclear war? Can cartoons instigate international diplomacy? Source:
Block, Herbert. "Herblock GalleryHerblock Looks at 1961: Fifty Years Ago in Editorial Cartoons." Herblock Looks at 1961: Fifty Years Ago in Editorial Cartoons. Library of Congress, 25 Oct. 1961. Web. 10 Aug. 2015. <http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblock-gallery/herblock-looks-at-1961.html>. |
Herbert Block: October 25, 1961 |