Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is one of the most beloved children’s authors in the United States. Although he died in 1991, the stories of Dr. Seuss continue to delight and amuse young audiences across the nation. Just today, the college where I teach held its annual Dr. Suess Day.
There was also a serious side to Dr. Seuss, however, a gravely serious side. Little known to most, Geisel was an active political cartoonist prior to his commercial success as a children’s author. In 1941 and 1942, he published a series of political cartoons in a short-lived New York daily newspaper known as the PM. Geisel claimed that he “had no great causes or interest in social issues until Hitler” but drew cartoons for PM because it was “against people who pushed other people around.”
The Early Work of Dr. Seuss
His early cartoons pursued a constant theme, incessantly attacking isolationism in the United States. The isolationists were a powerful collection of people (often, although not always, affiliated with the Republican Party) who felt that the nation must avoid involvement in foreign affairs. They wanted to stay out of World War 2, which had begun in Europe in 1939, claiming that no vital American interests were at stake. Geisel felt that by ignoring the threat posed by militantly expansionistic nations such as Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and imperial Japan, the isolationists threatened American security by ignoring an imminent threat.
In addition to the isolationists, Geisel called out cultural icons such as Charles Lindbergh. A famous aviator, Lindbergh made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. By the 1930s, however, Lindbergh was an isolationist. He sympathized with fascism and endorsed it as the way of the future. He gave several anti-war speeches in 1941. As a result, Geisel pilloried Lindbergh in his cartoons as a dupe spreading Nazi propaganda from the “Nazi Anti-Semite Stink Wagon.”
Dr. Seuss During World War 2
After Pearl Harbor, Geisel turned his work toward encouraging Americans to victory over Japan, Italy, and Germany. He exhorted Americans to buy war bonds, warned that the war would not be short, and called for unity against the enemy. Cartoons featuring Hitler profiting from American indecision and complacency reminded readers of what was at stake.
One of the best attributes of these cartoons is that (with a couple exceptions, see below) they stood for everything that Nazi Germany was not. Geisel’s art deplored racism and anti-Semitism. He often portraying the negative consequences of hatred and prejudice toward blacks and Jews. This carries over into his later work as well. In The Sneetches, for instance, some Sneetches wear a star to set themselves apart, just as Jews wore stars for identification in Nazi Germany. The Lorax, despite its craziness, is clearly a story warning of the consequences of environmental exploitation, and The Butter Battle Book spoke bravely on behalf of nuclear disarmament.
However, as I wrote above, there are a few exceptions to this image of Dr. Seuss. Consider, for instance, the cartoon he drew after Pearl Harbor titled “Waiting for the Signal from Home.” It depicts all Japanese on the West Coast as saboteurs receiving TNT from a store named the “Honorable Fifth Column.” (In warfare, a fifth column signifies spies and agents working behind enemy lines to sabotage the enemy from within.) Many of his images of Japanese drawn during the war depict people with exaggerated front teeth and other unusual physical characteristics.
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The nation celebrates Dr. Seuss for his fame as a children’s author, and his writing has encouraged countless children in their journey to literacy. We should not forget, however, that like most artists Dr. Seuss was much more complex than he appears at first glance. His cartoons of 1941 and 1942, with their emphasis on standing up to oppression but unnecessarily derogatory depictions of Japanese, are an important, if unrecognized, part of the legacy of this author.
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