(Download the full-sized image.)
Creator:
Unknown
Publication:
Punch, reprinted in the June 1941 issue of Judge, p. 622.
Publication Date:
June 1941
Description:
During World War II, there were two main sides of the war: the Axis Powers and the Allied Powers. The main Axis Powers were Germany, Italy and Japan. The main Allied Powers were Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. In Europe, the Allies fought on two fronts, the Eastern and the Western, to stop the advancing German army under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Prior to official American entry into World War II (which followed the Japanese attack on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in December 1941), the United States government authorized the shipment (through sale, lend, lease or exchange for military bases) of war materiel to the Allied Powers. Materiel included everything from food, clothing, and ammunition, to tanks, destroyers, aircrafts, and automobiles. The arrangement was controversial due to a strong current of isolationist sentiment among Americans. Most military strategists and historians agree, however, that the materiel supplied by the Lend-Lease agreement gave the Allied Powers a significant advantage early in the war and secured victory in the long run. This cartoon depicts the advent of the Lend-Lease arrangement as a happy event on par with the birth of a child.
Source:
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University