Life — April 26, 1917 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is the cover of Life magazine from April 26, 1917, labeled "Pacifists' Number." The cartoon depicts a child kneeling in prayer, with the caption "A PRAYER FOR PEACE" and the child's plea: "An' please get ma that new hat she's been fussing about." The satire targets American pacifists during World War I. The joke contrasts the stated concern for peace with trivial materialism—the child's prayer juxtaposes a grand moral principle (peace) with a selfish, mundane desire (a hat). This suggests pacifists' rhetoric about peace is similarly hollow or hypocritical, masking self-interest. Given the April 1917 date (two weeks after U.S. entry into WWI), Life mocks those opposing American military involvement as lacking genuine conviction or moral seriousness.