Above is a complex yet fascinating map created by the congressional House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1956, a pivotal point within the Cold War era. The map itself is a constituent of a report given to congress in the same year called “The Great Pretense,” which further solidified a growing anti-Communist agenda. Based on the information within the report, the descriptions at the bottom of the map describe how Communists – namely the U.S.S.R. – threaten nations around the globe not just politically, but economically, using any means, e.g. cheaper trade and vulnerability, to their advantage. While HUAC attacks the Communist model of governance and the Soviet romanticization of social prosperity and economic stability, it, too, fabricates its own skewed realizations and conclusions of the “enemy” by fighting propaganda with propaganda.
The frantic and exaggerated presence of the Soviet Union and the corresponding arrows pervading the map helped emphasize an image of a United States itself resisting its newfound adversary. A global threat pictured so close to home attempted to elicit a sense of fear and urgency out of the reader, appealing to emotions. While the descriptions appear somewhat factual, the data to back their assertions is mostly found within the document/report and not on the map itself, which proves problematic for those reading the map separately or alone. Words like “menace” carry with them a negative and even manipulative connotation, making the map more serious and grim. The actual sizes and scales mirror that of a Mercator projection, which is the most widely used and arguably most widely accepted among the American people, something to keep in mind.
Discussing these topics with our peers and providing the map on the handout really helped the material sink in and got the class more engaged in the map. Leading with a class discussion before offering our own interpretations of this map helped shed light on a fair amount of points and ideas that we had not considered or touched on in the slides that followed. This map has a lot to offer students of cartography and history alike, really resonating with the class.
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