As early as 1949, William Gropper was on a list of distinguished artists and intellectuals whom Congressmen Dondero considered subversive. Gropper, a political cartoonist for many liberal and left-wing newspapers, had also produced an illustrated map depicting America's folk heroes which was being distributed by the U.S. State Department Information Service. Four years later, this "conflict of interests" led Senator McCarthy to call in Gropper to testify before his committee. As a result of his hearing, Gropper was blacklisted and suffered greatly during this period. This work captures the vulnerability and uneasiness connected with the testimonies given by himself and many of his fellow artists before the court during the McCarthy era.