I do not like Hitler and Japan, I do not like them, Uncle Sam-I-Am

The first book I learned to read was Inside, Outside, Upside Down by Dr. Seuss. My favorite book as a child was Go Dog Go! also by Dr. Seuss, which I still will read when given an opportunity. I always loved the way the cars were going so fast that their wheels didn't even touch the ground. And that pink poodle and his hats... I could go on and on. But my point is, I grew up reading Dr. Seuss. And up until today, I thought Dr. Seuss only wrote children's books with strange creatures and funny poems of green eggs and ham.

Then I found this website:

http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/Frame.htm


Here is an excerpt:

Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel, 1904-1991) was a life-long cartoonist: in high school in Springfield, Massachusetts; in college at Dartmouth (Class of 1925); as an adman in New York City before World War II; in his many children's books, beginning with To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street (1937). Because of the fame of his children's books (and because we often misunderstand these books) and because his political cartoons have remained largely unknown, we do not think of Dr. Seuss as a political cartoonist. But for two years, 1941-1943, he was the chief editorial cartoonist for the New York newspaper PM (1940-1948), and for that journal he drew over 400 editorial cartoons.

Who knew that Dr. Seuss was a political cartoonist? And the crazy (or the not actually that crazy) part is that he used the same style of drawing and even some of the same strange creatures I grew up with. I've included just a few of his cartoons here, but I strongly recommend you check out that website and look through all of them. You might be surprised by what you see. (You can click on the images for the full size picture)


May 12, 1941


May 22, 1941


December 8, 1941 (Day after Pearl Harbor)


December 15, 1941


June 6, 1942

Like I said, there are many MANY more, I just picked a few. Go Dog Go! may never be the same again. Then again, as long as they always drive so fast their wheels never touch the ground, I'll still always love that book.