Scientists questioned the viability of Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly dubbed “Star Wars.” At the time, Herblock portrayed Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger as Santa Claus. Herblock explained, “I have shown the secretary of defense wearing the $640 toilet seat as a kind of collar. This not only represents the small items priced at a markup of several hundred percent, but it is symbolic of the billions of dollars that have been flushed down the drain in the name of defense.”