The War Against America
- Title:
- The War Against America
- Alternate Title:
- The War Against America
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Citizen's Intelligence Digest
- Other Creators:
- R.E. Grigsby, publisher and editor
- Date:
- 1962
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2465.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2465_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1960 - Present
- Subject:
- Communism & Cold War
Politics & Government
Pictorial
Not So Persuasive - Measurement:
- 17 x 25 on page 40 x 29 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This map appears on the first page of the "Citizen's Intelligence Digest," one of "a large number of . . . apocalyptic-conspiracy publications that circulated throughout the middle of the twentieth century." Standaert 2005, 84. When the publication first appeared, one Arizona newspaper referred to it as "a new and somewhat wild-eyed propaganda sheet . . . well out on the right fringe." Yuma Daily Sun, November 18, 1962, p.16.
The map is over the top with the anti-communist tropes of the times, used to describe "The War Against America," which "We are losing!" The U.S. is shown under attack by the Soviet Union, assaulted from over the pole by black clouds of Nuclear Blackmail and Psychological Warfare as well as flaming arrows of Political and Economic War. The nation is threatened by Subversion from Mexico and Cuba, while the ominous fog of International Socialism lurks just off our east and west coasts. In California, a Communist Agitator is responsible for Riots, Narcotics and Vice. UN Spies from the World Health Organization and UNESCO fuel fires of Treason and Uncensored Propaganda in the south. Midcontinent, fire has been set to the American flagpole, and while a Dedicated American Patriot tries to extinguish it with a firehose Constitution, his line has been cut by ax-wielding Leftist Organizations, leaving Morality leaking out onto the ground. All the while, The Apathetic American Citizen sits unaware watching television, where he hears the Propaganda that "The threat is only EXTERNAL."
The Publisher & Editor of the Digest is identified only as R.E. Grigsby. When the right-wing Liberty Lobby testified in Senate Appropriations Committee Hearings in 1965, it listed and described the members of its Board of Policy, including "Lt. Col. Robert E . Grigsby, USA, retired, Bakersfield, Calif. A man of ideas and action. Put out 500,000 copies of Citizens' Intelligence Digest before 1962 election and recently organized Operation Patriot." The University of Iowa Archives holds a "Special Edition" of the Citizen's Intelligence Digest dated August 1963, but this may be a reprint, and there does not appear to be evidence of any other issue. (Coincidentally, a newsletter with the same name was published in the 1990s by Patrick Matrisciana, founder of Jeremiah Films and producer of a number of videos and films promoting Christianity, patriotism, and "traditional values." Several of Matrisciana's best-known films alleged various conspiracies involving Bill and Hillary Clinton.)
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- Citizen's Intelligence Digest, 1962
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.