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1951 “Fight the Red Menace” (R701-12)
Bowman Gum Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Title: Fight the Red Menace
ACC No.: R701-12
Issued by: Bowman Gum Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
No. of Cards: 48
Numbering: 1 to 48 on card backs
Dimensions: 2½ × 3⅛ inches
Circa: 1951
Overview
During the early 1950s, Bowman Gum’s “Fight the Red Menace” was one of the most popular and colorful trading card sets of the post World War II era.
As you may recall, this was the “McCarthy” era and the “Scare Years.“ During this era, we all learned how to ”Duck and Cover“ in anticipation of a nuclear attack. The series of cards was a byproduct of this era which saw Communist takeovers in Eastern Europe, the invasion of Korea, Russian A-bomb tests, and the emergence of leftist political movements in Latin America. The artwork for the series was quite spectacular … and graphic.
The 48 card set was issued by Bowman in 1951. Each card measured 2½ × 3⅛. Each card had a subheading, “CHILDREN’S CRUSADE AGAINST COMMUNISM” printed on the back at the top. The card number, card title, and text were printed below. The textured stock on the reverse came in both gray and tan. Every card was issued in both colors. The American Card Catalog reference number for the set is R701-12.
Image-Guide
5¢ Box and 5¢ Wrapper
A very special thanks to Vladislav Kuchta from Prague, Czech Republic for sending us a scans of the R701-12 “Red Menace” 5¢ box and 5¢ Wrapper. Vladislav is a long-time collector of chewing gum wrappers. He has over 100,000 items in his collection.
A Little History and the “Crusader Oath”
When Bowman’s “Red Menace” set was issued in 1951, the World was already several years deep into the “Cold War”. Often dated from 1947 to 1991, the “Cold War” was a sustained state of political and military tension between powers in the Western Bloc, dominated by the United States with NATO among its allies, and powers in the Eastern Bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union along with the Warsaw Pact. This began after the success of their temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and the United States as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences.
This was the era of “Duck and Cover”. “Duck and Cover” was a suggested method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear explosion, which the United States government taught to generations of United States school children from the early 1950s until the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s. It was intended to protect them in the event of both an unexpected nuclear attack, in which they were told might come at any time without warning. Under the conditions of a surprise attack, immediately after they saw a flash they had to stop what they were doing and get on the ground under some cover-such as a table, or at least next to a wall-and assume a prone like position, lying face-down and covering their exposed skin and back of their heads with their clothes, or if no excess clothes such as a coat was available, to cover the back of their heads with their hands.
If that wasn’t enough stress for everyone, let’s throw Sen. Joseph McCarthy into the mix! Joseph Raymond “Joe” McCarthy (11/14/08 - 5/2/1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, his tactics and inability to substantiate his claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate.
The term “McCarthyism”, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy’s practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more generally in reference to demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents. So, it was no surprise that the following pledge was printed on the back of each “Red Menace” 5¢ box.
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Checklist
| “Red Menace”
R701-12 Checklist | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reds Invade South Korea | |
| 2 | MacArthur Heads UN Forces | |
| 3 | Slave Labor | |
| 4 | “Mustangs” Rout Red Planes | |
| 5 | Hill 303 | |
| 6 | Landing at Inchon | |
| 7 | Trouble on the Docks | |
| 8 | Bridging a Stream Under Fire | |
| 9 | Police State | |
| 10 | Lieutenant Russell Brown | |
| 11 | Fleeing the Reds | |
| 12 | Heroes of Turkey | |
| 13 | Putting Out Atomic Fire | |
| 14 | Sabres Win Air Battle | |
| 15 | Red Battle Wagon | |
| 16 | Negro GIs Hold Line | |
| 17 | War in Malaya | |
| 18 | General Walton H. Walker | |
| 19 | Atomic Doom | |
| 20 | “Big Mo” in Action | |
| 21 | Mined Harbor | |
| 22 | Alaska Lookout | |
| 23 | Ghost City | |
| 24 | General “Ike” in Command | |
| 25 | Red Rule in Manchuria | |
| 26 | Finns Defend the Country | |
| 27 | Red Guerrillas in Greece | |
| 28 | Berlin Airlift | |
| 29 | Red Riot in Bogotá | |
| 30 | Helicopters in Action | |
| 31 | Case of Cardinal Mindzenty | |
| 32 | UN Counterattack | |
| 33 | Berlin Kidnapping | |
| 34 | “Tiny Tim” | |
| 35 | Visit by Red Police | |
| 36 | Commander in Korea | |
| 37 | Concentration Camp | |
| 38 | “Lightning Joe” Collins | |
| 39 | Soviet Rocket Fighter | |
| 40 | Frontier Patrol | |
| 41 | To the Mines | |
| 42 | Naval Chief | |
| 43 | Huk Raiders | |
| 44 | One-man Stand | |
| 45 | Ambush in Indo-China | |
| 46 | Fighting Marine | |
| 47 | War-maker | |
| 48 | “Doughboy’s” General | |
| n/a | 5¢ “Red Menace” Wrapper | |
| n/a | 5¢ “Red Menace” Box | |
References
