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Klaus Albrectsen; cartoonist; 29 April 1982; Denmark
Overview
This poster features an image by satirical Danish cartoonist Klaus Albrectsen. His dove is made up of two opposing armies under United States President Ronald Reagan (1981-89) and Soviet Union leader Leonid Brezhnev (1964-82). In the middle is the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament symbol made up of people.
During the Cold War, there was an escalation in the nuclear arms race between the Soviet Union and America. Both countries built up massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons. From the 1960s, the theory of MAD was applied to such stockpiling – Mutually Assured Destruction – meaning that if the Soviet Union attacked the West there would be a suitable retaliation, i.e. there would be no winners.