(1951) PROPAGANDA CHILDREN TRADING CARDS "THE RED MENACE" No.23/No.47

NYC BOMBED OUT AT 23rd and BROADWAY WITH THE GRIM REAPER HOVERING ABOVE NYC. THESE CARDS  DONE AFTER THE SOVIETS TESTED JOE 1 THEIR FIRST ATOMIC WEAPON SO ACROSS AMERICA THE RED SCARE WAS ON THE ROSENBERG ESPIONAGE TRIAL AND DEATH SENTENCE  THE RED HUNT AND BLACKLISTING OF MANY OF HOLLYWOODS STARS A LOT OF PERCIEVED SOVIET THREATS WERE IMAGINED NON STOP. COMMUNISM WAS BEHIND EVERY THREAT AGAINST AMERICA AND THE BEST WAY WAS TO ENSURE THIS WAS TAKEN CARE OF CARDS LIKE THE"RED MENACE" WERE MADE SO KIDS COULD SEE AND READ ABOUT THESE ENEMIES THAT WOULD ATTACK US AND KILL US FOR NO REASON AND DROP ATOMIC BOMBS ON OUR COUNTRY. THE SAME KIDS WHO GOT THE PATRIOTIC MESSAGE WERE MOST LIKELY THE FIRST TO ENLIST TO FIGHT COMMUNISM IN VIETNAM .

Red Menace

Bowman Gum Inc. released their Red Menace card set in 1951. There are 48 cards in the set, each measuring 2-1/2" by 3-1/8". 

The meaning behind Bowman's grim & gritty Red Menace card set is clear: Communists are lurking just around the corner, ready to spread death and destruction and totalitarianism if they ever get the chance. This is heavy stuff, but for kids of the immediate postwar period, it was just part & parcel of the time. 

The Red Menace cards depict various horrific and terrible scenes: mushroom clouds over bombed-out cities, not to mention giant hovering wraiths; citizens being harassed or even shot by grim-faced military officers; homes being searched for anti-Communist propaganda; and more. The obviously jingoistic and sensationalist images (not to mention the text on the backs of the cards!) was heavy stuff, but it wasn't that much worse than much Cold War propaganda being fed to Americans - even kids - during the 1950's. And, who's to say it wasn't accurate: after all, Communist takeovers around the world were indeed brutal. 

The card fronts offer a piece of color artwork surrounded by a white border. The card backs (in dark blue and red ink against a white background, no less) give the words CHILDREN'S CRUSADE AGAINST COMMUNISM along the top, followed by the card number and title, then a block of (lurid) text. At the bottom was the phrase FIGHT THE RED MENACE between two stars, and the Bowman copyright matter at the bottom. 

Additional cards in the set offered American generals and even personages such as Chairman Mao in portraits; but most of the photos were downright pandering in their depiction of violence