horton hears a hoover
Many people are probably unaware that Dr. Seuss also dabbled in editorial cartoons. I know I was surprised when I came across this website a few years ago. It is the website by the author of Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel
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.
This is my favorite of the bunch. It is dated August 14, 1941 and it speaks to appeasement. Replace the swastika's with Crescent Moon's and the cartoon remains extremely relevant.
Check out the website, A Catalog of Political Cartoons by Dr. Seuss, it gives unique insight into the political climate leading up to and during U.S. involvement in WWII.
Hat tip to Cox & Forkum for introducing me to the editorial cartoons of Dr. Seuss. They have produced an impressive collection of editorial cartoons themselves. Unfortunately, they stopped producing editorial cartoons on September 30th, 2007. However, their website remains up as an archive of their work.
Here is one of my favorites from Cox & Forkum dated August 05,2003:
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