1945 Van Zelm Original Manuscript Political Cartoon of War Coming for Japan

This is Louis Franklin Van Zelm original manuscript World War II Era political cartoon anticipating an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. It stresses that Japan's plans for conquest had, by this time, backfired, and they were soon to be on the receiving end of the conflict they started.

A Closer Look

Drawn in April 1945 as World War II (1939 - 1945) in Europe was coming to a close, a truly gigantic personification of war stretches an arm across Asia toward three Japanese officials (two of whom are wearing military uniforms). 'War' is an armored, unshaven brute carrying a spiked club. The Japanese officials cower in fear, one of whom has a hat that flies off. One of the officials says, 'Looks as if our honorable brain-child has turned on us.' The Japanese flag flies from a haggard, patched-up wooden flagpole.

Some Analysis

Japanese nationalists and imperialists had been clamoring for war since the late 1920s and early 1930s. Their propaganda prepared the Japanese public for a righteous war meant to bring honor and prosperity. In 1937, Japan launched the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 1945) by invading China, and in the following years, it conquered most of Southeast Asia, the East Indies, and several Pacific archipelagos. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, the United States entered World War II and began preparing to fight Japan across the Pacific. The Japanese believed themselves invincible and safe behind their formidable army and navy. They nonetheless underestimated the ability of the United States to rapidly mobilize for war. As the U.S. armed forces slowly advanced across the Central and South Pacific, Japan's army and navy suffered critical losses in battles, personnel, and equipment. These losses, combined with the loss of territory and resources, brought the war to the Japanese home islands. The Allies dropped over 160,000 tons of bombs on Japan. At the time this cartoon was published, the conventional wisdom was that the Allies would invade Japan just as they had North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France, which would truly bring the war to Japanese shores. The perspective put forward here, that war, Japan's 'brain-child,' had turned on them, was particularly poignant to an American audience in April 1945, after four long years of war.

Publication History and Census

Since this is Louis Franklin Van Zelm's original artwork, this piece is unique. The cartoon appeared in the Wednesday, April 11, 1945, edition of The Christian Science Monitor.