Life — February 28, 1918 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Our National Game in 1918" This cartoon depicts a baseball player attempting to hit a ball labeled with explosive imagery, likely representing military conflict. The caption and surrounding text reference the Bolsheviki (Russian Communists), Germans, and debates over American intervention in World War I. The satire suggests that American political leaders—represented by the batter—are playing a dangerous "game" by engaging with both Russian revolutionaries and Germans, when they should focus on clear military objectives. The text criticizes those who would negotiate with Bolsheviks or Germans rather than decisively defeating them. The "national game" metaphor mocks treating serious wartime decisions as casual sport, suggesting American leadership is recklessly gambling with national security by entertaining multiple ideological threats simultaneously during WWI.