America's Appeal to Logic

The propaganda put out by Americans in the 1960's came in various forms.  It used different methods and appeals to get its message across.  This piece in particular, depicting Americans armed with machine guns crushing a Soviet flag and helmet while planting an American flag on the moon, is a mouthful to describe and can appeal to ones logic, or logos.  The poster calls for America to "Clean the Communist Filth off the Moon."  The astronauts are powerfully depicted and are almost intimidating in nature.  It's almost as if they're trying to scare you into joining the space race to help America.  What's the logical decision when three heavily armed men ask you to do something?  Exactly! You do what they say.  This is in stark contrast to that of the Soviet poster, which encourages kids to use their imagination and become the next generation of astronauts.

The American astronauts are also planting a large American flag on the moon, claiming it as their own.  It's human nature to defend what's ours so the logical thing to do in this situation would be "clean" the Soviets off the moon.  Also, since the American flag is much larger than the tattered Soviet one, it leads the audience(Americans) to believe that America is the more powerful nation and that in order to succeed, you must follow them.  Otherwise you run the risk of being crushed by a burly astronaut.

A subtle thing done by the author of this piece was the earth in the background.  Initially, it appears to be there to add perspective to the drawing.  Upon further inspection, you can see that the planet is centered on North America.  This creates subliminal messages, causing one to believe that America is the center of power, without them realizing it or.