Dr. Seuss, WWII Cartoons, and Political Children's Books

Introduction

The political themes expressed in the WWII political cartoons of Dr. Seuss—born Theodor Seuss Geisel—influenced a number of his later works of children's literature. Known primarily for his children's books, Seuss wrote a series of over 400 political cartoons for PM Magazine that explored a variety of subjects, including Hitler, Fascist Italian publicist Virgino Gayda, Mussolini and fascism, American isolationism, and racism. Many of these themes were later explored in his children's books, including Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now!, The Butter Battle Book, The Sneetches and Other Stories, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories.

Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! reveals Seuss's feelings that President Nixon should resign, while The Butter Battle Book clearly shows that the political and social conscience Seuss honed during his time at PM Magazine remained active well into his old age. In The Sneetches and Other Stories, Seuss expanded on the theme of tolerance and the critique of racism that he incorporated into many of his editorial cartoons. Similarly, Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories is deeply reminiscent of his opposition to fascism and totalitarianism seen in the PM Magazine cartoons. Overall, Seuss's contributions to the political landscape—while commonly overlooked in favor of his contributions to children's literature—were significant and important in shaping public opinion, both in the overt form seen in his editorial cartoons and in the more subtle political messages embedded in his children's books.

To most of the world, Dr. Seuss is best known for his tremendous impact on children's literature. In his lifetime, he wrote 44 children's books that were translated into over 15 languages and sold over 200 million copies in total. He is known to millions as the author of whimsical and catchy children's books, including How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Green Eggs and Ham, Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Fox in Socks, and The Cat in the Hat. Seuss was awarded two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and the Pulitzer Prize (Dr. Seuss Enterprises). As a children's author, his influence has been tremendous and long-lasting, with Hollywood adapting How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and The Cat in the Hat into major motion pictures starring Jim Carrey and Mike Myers, respectively. One of the most famous characteristics of his children's literature is his masterful and nearly hypnotic use of rhythmic, rhyming prose—such as anapestic tetrameter—throughout his works (Wikipedia).

While his success in children's books is clearly remarkable, Dr. Seuss's life and career were far more complex than the common perception of him as only a children's author suggests. He was born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts. As a shy child, he developed a love of rhyme and meter from his mother (Weidt and Maguire). He later attended Dartmouth College and became editor-in-chief of the school's humor magazine, Jack-O-Lantern. He was soon removed from the magazine for violating the school's drinking policy, but began contributing cartoons under the pen name "Seuss"—both his middle name and his mother's maiden name. Seuss then went to Oxford but dropped out due to boredom, and it was there that he met his first wife, Helen Palmer. Returning to the United States, he began working as a cartoonist, writing for the Saturday Evening Post and creating advertising campaigns for Standard Oil for close to 15 years (Dr. Seuss Enterprises; Wikipedia).

Seuss's career shifted with the advent of WWII, as he began writing weekly political cartoons for the liberal PM Magazine. Too old to be accepted for the draft but eager to help the war effort, he also worked making training films for the U.S. Army. He continued illustrating for magazines such as Judge, Vanity Fair, and Life during this period (Dr. Seuss Enterprises).

Seuss began his career in children's literature when Viking Press offered him a chance to illustrate a children's book called Banners. The book was a flop, but Seuss's illustrations won high praise, and his career in children's literature was born. He married Audrey Stone Geisel after his first wife died in 1967; she later served as president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises (Dr. Seuss Enterprises). Seuss died on September 21, 1991, after an illness of several months (MacDonald).

Seuss's Editorial Cartoons in WWII

Seuss's political involvement through the numerous cartoons he created during WWII is perhaps one of the most interesting and least known aspects of his career. As the war began, his opposition to fascism and his support of the American war effort spurred him to express his political ideas through illustration. In all, Seuss drew over 400 political cartoons in four years for PM Magazine and created a series of war bond cartoons that appeared in a wide number of newspapers across the United States (Minear; Wikipedia).

The large majority of Seuss's cartoons were published in PM Magazine, a leading liberal publication backed by Marshall Field III. His collaboration with the magazine began in early 1941, when, "haunted by the war in Europe" (Morgan, p. 100), Seuss showed his friend Zinny Vanderlip Schoales an editorial cartoon he had drawn. Schoales took the cartoon to Ralph Ingersoll, who had launched PM Magazine, and Seuss soon became a regular contributor (Morgan). PM Magazine published works by Crockett Johnson, Lillian Hellman, and James Thurber; it was outspoken in its political themes and carried no advertisements (Minear, Geisel, and Spiegelman).

Many of Seuss's cartoons clearly oppose the viciousness of leaders like Hitler and Mussolini. His early cartoons in particular showed a passionate opposition to fascism, even before the United States officially entered WWII. His depictions of Japan characterized the nation through a figure with a sneering grin and slanted eyes. He also drew attention to the beginnings of the Holocaust and objected to discrimination against Jews and Black Americans (Wikipedia). His 1942 campaign against the anti-Semitic ideas of Catholic priest Father Coughlin was largely influential in discrediting the priest (Minear, Geisel, and Spiegelman).

Despite the generally liberal leanings of many of his cartoons, a segment of Seuss's WWII cartoons depicted Japanese-Americans as traitors. One such cartoon appeared the day before the internment of Japanese-Americans in the United States. These cartoons have understandably disturbed many people (Wikipedia). It is clear, however, that they reflect the prevailing political attitudes of the time. Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps in a period of political fear and paranoia, and a great number of Americans supported such internments. Seuss's cartoons depicting Japanese-Americans as traitorous—while clearly unacceptable today—are a reflection of the political climate of the era and of Seuss's own interpretation of supporting the American war effort. These cartoons have "struck many readers as a strange moral blind spot in a generally idealistic man" (Wikipedia).

Key Cartoons: Gayda, Hitler, and the Isolationists

Seuss's first political cartoon in PM Magazine was published on January 30, 1941. It was an attack on Fascist Italian publicist Virgino Gayda and Mussolini. The cartoon depicts a pompous writer sitting in front of an oversized typewriter, with keys askew and the machine clearly on the verge of breakdown. Springs are exposed and steam seems to be escaping. A piece of paper from the typewriter becomes a banner above the machine that reads "Virginio Gayda Says." The banner is held up by a scruffy, chubby cupid-like figure raising his hand in a disdainful stop gesture, while a small bird is caught midair by one of the typewriter's noxious bursts of steam. Seuss is clearly characterizing Gayda's writing as full of obnoxious rhetoric and hot air—symbolized by the escaping steam—and working to discredit both the writer and the cause he champions: Mussolini's fascist regime.

An editorial cartoon published in PM Magazine on May 19, 1941, depicts the nations of Europe as cattle being milked by Adolf Hitler. Hitler is shown running a dairy operation labeled "Consolidated World Dairy, A. Hitler, Prop." on a barn in the backdrop. He is surrounded by milking jugs and stools while a smiling, many-legged cow with multiple udders walks past with its eyes closed. Each separate body of the cow is marked with the name of a European country—France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece, and Austria—followed by a cow bearing a simple question mark to indicate that more nations will follow (Minear, A Catalog; Wikipedia).

Seuss was also quick to criticize American interests, and American isolationists were a favorite target. One of the most notable of these cartoons was published in PM Magazine on July 16, 1941. The cartoon shows a smiling whale perched atop a mountain, with a small mountaineer gazing at it in wonder. The text below, titled "The Isolationist," reads:

Said a whale, "There is so much commotion, / Such fights among fish in the ocean, / I'm saving my scalp / Living high on an Alp— / Dear Lindy! He gave me the notion!"

In this cartoon, Seuss is clearly criticizing America's refusal to engage in WWII. The United States had declined to intervene in European affairs and sought to remain neutral in wars between European powers. "Lindy" refers to Charles Lindbergh, an advocate of the isolationist group America First and a frequent target of Seuss's cartoons. Lindbergh was a celebrated aviator who had made anti-Semitic remarks and was widely identified as an isolationist (Minear, Geisel, and Spiegelman). Seuss clearly believed that America should intervene in the war in Europe.

The editorial cartoons produced during Seuss's tenure at PM Magazine clearly foreshadow the whimsical style that would characterize much of his later children's literature. In his cartoons, Seuss used animals such as dragons, seals, whales, and dogs to illustrate his ideas, often placing them in fantastical situations. Characters were drawn with enlarged eyelashes, enormous goofy smiles, and unorthodox body proportions. Animals commonly represented both America's allies and enemies: Germany was often depicted as a dachshund, and America as an eagle (Minear, Geisel, and Spiegelman).

The impact of Seuss's editorial cartoons on the American public is difficult to estimate, but their reach was meaningful. Seuss's portraits of Japanese and Japanese-Americans grew more virulent as the war became increasingly difficult and American sentiment toward Japan hardened. His clear and pointed opposition to the isolationist position was shared by many Americans (Nel). His 1942 cartoons lampooning Father Coughlin's anti-Semitism helped discredit the priest, and his attacks on isolationists, dictators, and fascists likely solidified public support for U.S. involvement in the war. Seuss also encouraged Americans to buy war savings bonds and stamps, endure shortages, and help control inflation—actively rallying public support for the war effort (Minear, Geisel, and Spiegelman).

Conclusion

In conclusion, Seuss's children's books often reflect in great detail many of the political themes he explored while creating his WWII political cartoons for PM Magazine. His contributions to the political landscape have been widely overlooked in favor of his contributions to children's literature. Nonetheless, those political contributions were important in shaping public opinion—both through the overt messages contained in his editorial cartoons and through the more subtle political and social messages embedded in many of his children's books.

References

Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. Dr. Seuss Memorial at the Quadrangle. 2004.

Nel, Philip. 2004. Dr. Seuss: American Icon. Continuum Pub Group.

MacDonald, Ruth K. 1988. Dr. Seuss. Twayne Publishers.

Minear, Richard H., Geisel, Theodor Seuss, and Spiegelman, Art. 2001. Dr. Seuss Goes to War: World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel. The New Press.

Minear, Richard H. A Catalog of Political Cartoons by Dr. Seuss. Mandeville Special Collections Library.

Morgan, Neil, and Morgan, Judith. 1996. Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography. DaCapo Press.

Seuss, Dr. 1972. Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! New York: Bright & Early Books, Random House.

Seuss, Dr. 1984. The Butter Battle Book. New York: Random House.

Seuss, Dr. 1961. The Sneetches and Other Stories. New York: Random House.

Seuss, Dr. 1958. Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. New York: Random House.

Weidt, Maryann N., and Maguire, Kerry. 1995. Oh, the Places He Went: A Story About Dr. Seuss—Theodor Seuss Geisel. First Avenue Editions.

Wikipedia. Dr. Seuss. 25 April 2004.