1 - The man in the cartoon is a personification of the mass hysteria of American citizens in fear of communism after World War II. The cartoon was published in 1949 and referred to the violation of political liberties in the name of fighting communism. I the late 1940s and early 1950s the US would have figures like Senator Joseph McCarthy and the FBI's Edgar Hoover who acted believing political liberties were less important than destroying communism.
2 - The author of the cartoon is Herb Block, a famous political cartoonist of the 20th century. In the cartoon, the personified hysteria is going to put out the flame of the statue of liberty for fear of it. The author is saying that fear and hysteria destroy important rights and liberties and thus are unhealthy feelings in politics.
