The Red Scare Cartoon

Describe: This is a Cartoon of Uncle Sam swatting a fly with a malet. On the the malet is a sentence stating "Too orastic Sedition Legislation" Also the fly is noted as "reds". On the bottom of the cartoon the caption says "Swat the fly, but use common sense"

Analyze: During the time of the Red Scare, people in America were worried about communists, anarchists, and socialists. The red fly in the picture is a representation of all those types of people, and becasue it has landed on Uncle Sam it symbolizes how they had brought their ideas to the U.S. The sentence on the malet states that the sedition acts passed during the time of the Red Scare were too harsh. Instead of using a fly swatter that would have gotten the job done, the U.S decided to use a malet, which could symbolize the Palmer Raids.( When Palmer and many others would round up immigrants who were considered to be anti-american and send them to jail, deport them, or even in some extreme cases, kill them.) This cartoon is mocking the Sedition Acts by stating "Swat the fly, but use common sense" Uncle Same is pointing the malet towards himself and getting ready to swat the fly on his own head. It is not smart to do this for obvious reasons and the author is comparing this action to the Sedition Acts, and how they were not a smart idea.