As we have mentioned in a previous posting, political cartoons were part of the organized resistance against US policy in Central America in the 1980s. 

The same cartoonist, Jim Jirous, also created political cartoons that critiqued US nuclear policy. His cartoon characters, Norman Nuke and Jr., used satire as a primary means of communicating anti-nuclear sentiment during the height of the Reagan years, where the threat of nuclear war was always part of the US administration’s rhetoric.

Norman Nuke and Jr. was cartoon that Jirous created as a counter to the nuclear proliferation by the US government in the 1980s. In the cartoon featured here, we see Norman Nuke and Jr. getting ready to celebrate the holiday season. As always, Jr. does not embrace his father’s worldview by resisting his own identity and calling for disarmament as a wish when visiting Santa Claus.

The text reads:

Norman – When I was a kid, I asked Santa for some more war heads, a new 2 stall silo, and a new guidance system, and……

Jr. – You could use a new tie…….

Santa – What do you want for Christmas, Junior?

Jr. – Is there even a remote chance of getting some genuine peace on earth? even though your beard is fake?

Jirous created 8 different cartoons featuring Norman Nuke and Jr. in 1985 – 1986.