Sons of Peace

John T. McCutcheon's editorial cartoon presents three allegorical figures—European Diplomacy (bearded elder), a skeletal Death figure labeled "War Profiteer," and the League of Nations representative—overlooking a chaotic battlefield. The image frames "The War to End War" (1914–1918) within a visual debate about peace-building institutions. McCutcheon employs the graphic vocabulary that shaped early comics: bold caricature, symbolic personification, and sequential visual hierarchy. The skeletal profiteer, rendered in period caricature style, advances McCutcheon's antiwar argument. As political cartoonist for the *Chicago Tribune*, McCutcheon helped establish how newspapers could combine dense symbolism with accessible drawing to shape public opinion during the Great War's early years.