The Geneva Disarmament Conference—a series of diplomatic talks that led to the formulation of the Geneva Convention—opened on March 14, 1962, the day before this cartoon appeared. Herblock depicts his recurring character, Mr. Atom, holding a “cuckoo” clock that features a vulture and nuclear missiles as weights. Mr. Atom greets international diplomats as they enter a Swiss chalet to remind them that the clock is ticking on disarmament.