1940 Richard Edes Harrison Infographic Map of War Resources

'One of the weaknesses of democracy, a system I am trying to make the best of, is that, until it is right up against it, it will never face the truth.'

This May 1940 Richard Edes Harrison infographic map combines a graph of the world's war resources with a map of the British and French Empires, and an ingenious diagram of the distances between Britain, France, and their colonial possessions. Together, they tell a story of Nazi Germany's success up to that moment: not as an inevitable result of economic or military prowess, but as a failure of the free world to recognize the threat they faced until it was upon them. Harrison, and indeed Fortune Magazine, took pains to show the American public the immediate relevance of what was still seen as a European war, and the importance of American assistance to the Allies, if not intervention.

A Closer Look

The centerpiece of Harrison's composition is a boldly rendered chart, 'Twenty Strategic Essentials According to Percentage of World Production.' At the top right, a stylized globe depicts the supply routes of the British and French Empires. At the right side of the composition, Harrison has produced a diagram illustrating the distances between Britain, France and their colonies, indicating the difference between routes around Africa's Cape of Good Hope, compared with those formerly achieved via the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, a route no longer controlled by the Allies.

The Centerpiece Chart

Using data from 1937-38, the main chart shows the tonnage of world production of resources such as steel, petroleum, and wheat, and breaks down the percentage of that production among the major world powers. The chart is dominated by the red-and-wine colors assigned to the Allies; the black representing Germany indicates paucity of their resources. This discrepancy also shows up in world population, with the Allies and their colonies dwarfing Germany. The United States, shown in green, outstrips all comers in steel, petroleum, coal, cotton, copper and iron. The message is clear: American aid could overwhelmingly shift the war's balance. In all categories save population, the Empire of Japan is here notable only in its absence.

Timing of the Infographic

Harrison dated his work May 1940; the accompanying text references the fall of Abbeville, which took place May 21, 1940, but it makes no reference to the evacuation of Dunkirk. By the time this reached Fortune's readers in July 1940, France had fallen, and the Battle of Britain was underway. The United States was still neutral, but its isolationism was beginning to give way to active support for Great Britain, a trend Fortune was eager to accelerate.

Publication History and Census

This map appeared in only one edition, in the July 1940 issue of Fortune Magazine. OCLC lists no examples of the separate infographic.

Cartographer

Richard Edes Harrison (March 11, 1901 - January 5, 1994) was an American cartographer, scientific illustrator, and designer based in New York City, active principally from the 1930s through the 1970s. His journalistic maps combined unconventional viewpoints, expressive relief shading, and carefully controlled graphic design to explain international geography to a broad readership. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale College in 1923 with a major in zoology and a minor in chemistry. After working as a scientific illustrator and architectural draftsman, he entered Yale's School of Fine Arts in 1926 and received an architecture degree in 1930. With architectural work scarce during the Depression, he moved to New York and worked in interior and industrial design. A 1932 Time map assignment launched his career in magazine cartography; he later became a staff cartographer for Fortune before returning to freelance work in 1938, maintaining important associations with Fortune and Life. During World War II, Harrison challenged the familiar north-up, Mercator-centered view of world affairs through polar projections, orthographic views, and oblique perspectives that emphasized the Earth's curvature and the proximity of continents in an age of aviation. His Three Approaches to the U.S. (1940) and The World Divided (1941) made American strategic vulnerability visually immediate, supporting an internationalist understanding of the conflict rather than geographical isolation. His influential Look at the World: The Fortune Atlas for World Strategy appeared in 1944. Although admired for their explanatory power, his departures from conventional orientation, scale, and projection also attracted criticism from professional geographers and cartographers. Harrison taught at Syracuse University from 1945 to 1949 and consulted for government agencies, including the Office of Strategic Services, the State Department, and the U.S. Geological Survey. His later publications included The Ginn World Atlas (1963), and he contributed shaded-relief cartography to The National Atlas of the United States of America. He received the American Geographical Society's Miller Medal in 1968. An enthusiastic birdwatcher with a sustained interest in Central Park conservation, Harrison died in New York City on January 5, 1994; the Library of Congress acquired his professional and personal papers in 1995.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good. Thread holes at centerfold as always, else excellent

References

Not in OCLC.