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April 29, 2017

The Dr. Seuss You Didn’t Know

Theodor Geisel, beloved children’s author, had a life before he put the hat on the cat. Born March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Geisel was the only son of German-born immigrants. He spent a normal childhood with his sister and parents, before going to college to become a teacher. Geisel dropped out of college shortly before completing his doctorate in literature. He would eventually turn his almost doctorate and his mother’s maiden name into his now famous pen name, Dr. Seuss.1

Advertisement by Theodor Geisel | Courtesy of PBS.org

In 1927, Geisel decided to turn his passion for drawing and writing into a career in advertising. One of his early successes in advertising was his drawing for Flit insecticide, whose mascot looked very similar to the cat that would eventually wear a striped hat.2  He later created an entire campaign for Essomarine Oil, a division of Standard Oil, called Seuss Navy, in which he designed certificates of membership, pamphlets, and even ashtrays and cocktail glasses that were passed out at trade shows. The Seuss Navy ads ran from 1936 to 1941, and contained many of the sea creatures that would later appear in his books.3 Geisel used many of his made up creatures in various ad campaigns and was the first person to use humor to sell products, altering the advertising industry.4

Political cartoon by Theodor Geisel published in May 1941 | Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego

In 1941, Geisel left advertising to work as a political cartoonist for liberal New York newspaper PM. He drew over 4oo cartoons targeting such topics as isolationism, antisemitism, and racism. He routinely mocked Hitler and Mussolini, but he had a particular flair for attacking American nationalism as well. Believing that the American Nationalist Movement was just another form of fascism, Geisel made Charles Lindbergh a frequent subject of his cartoons.5 After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Geisel began to use his cartoons to support the war against Japan. He drew cartoons that “depicted Hideki Tojo, the Prime Minister and Supreme Military Leader of Japan, as an ugly stereotype, with squinting eyes and a sneering grin.”6 Geisel was in support of Japanese internment camps and drew several cartoons about them.

Political cartoon by Theodor Geisel published in January 1942 | Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego

It can be hard to imagine that Dr. Seuss could be a racist in his depiction of Asians, but he later admitted that this was exactly the case. At the time, PM did not receive one letter of complaint about Geisel’s stereotypical depiction of Asians, although they received many letters when Geisel mocked the German dachshund, which was popular among American dog owners. Dr. Seuss later said that his 1954 book, “Horton Hears a Who,” written after a trip to Japan and dedicated to a Japanese friend, is meant to be an apology to the Japanese people for his depictions of them during World War II. In the 1980’s, Geisel looked through all his children’s books and removed anything he felt was racist, changing them for any future publication.7

Geisel’s political cartoons ended when he joined the Army in 1943. The now Captain Geisel was assigned to a unit that made training films for the Army, working with the likes of Stan Lee (creator of super heroes) and Chuck Jones (creator of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote).8 Geisel and Jones would become life long friends and would work together on various projects, including the animated “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” which is still shown every year on television.

Dr. Seuss’ first book | Courtesy of Wikipedia

Geisel’s first children’s book was “And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” and was published in 1937. However, his writing career almost never happened. The book had been turned down by 27 publishers and Geisel was ready to give up the idea of becoming a children’s author when he ran into an old college friend while walking down the street. His friend had recently become an editor at Vanguard Press and asked Geisel to send him the book so he could show his boss. Geisel would later say in interviews that it was pure luck that he walked down that side of the street that day.9

Dr. Seuss later claimed that he did not like to write books that had a moral or ethical lesson, because children could see a lesson coming and would not want to read the book.10 However, all of Geisel’s books, except his Beginner Books, contained lessons of some sort. Dr. Seuss wrote books with lessons on environmentalism, racial equality, the pointlessness of the arms race, materialism, and respect, just to name a few. He was one of the first children’s authors to write books for children with the respect and care typically reserved for adult literature.11

Dr. Seuss died on September 24, 1991 at his home. He was asked shortly before he passed away to leave a message for children. He wrote “The best slogan I can think of to leave the kids of the U.S.A. would be ‘We can…and we’ve got to…do better than this.’ He then crossed out ‘the kids of.’”12  Dr. Seuss left a legacy of children’s literature that will not soon be forgotten, but he did more than that; Dr. Seuss taught children to think.

  1. Janet Schulman and Cathy Goldsmith, Your Favorite Seuss (New York: Random House, 2004), 6.
  2. Louis Menand, “Cat People,” The New Yorker (December 2002).
  3. Janet Schulman and Cathy Goldsmith, Your Favorite Seuss (New York: Random House, 2004), 55.
  4.  Janet Schulman and Cathy Goldsmith, Your Favorite Seuss (New York: Random House, 2004), 117.
  5. Sophie Gilbert, “The Complicated Relevance of Dr. Seuss’s Political Cartoons,” The Atlantic (January 2017).
  6. Sophie Gilbert, “The Complicated Relevance of Dr. Seuss’s Political Cartoons,” The Atlantic (January 2017).
  7.  Sophie Gilbert, “The Complicated Relevance of Dr. Seuss’s Political Cartoons,” The Atlantic (January 2017).
  8. Janet Schulman and Cathy Goldsmith, Your Favorite Seuss (New York: Random House, 2004), 9.
  9.  Louis Menand, “Cat People,” The New Yorker (December 2002).
  10. Janet Schulman and Cathy Goldsmith, Your Favorite Seuss (New York: Random House, 2004), 190.
  11.  Janet Schulman and Cathy Goldsmith, Your Favorite Seuss (New York: Random House, 2004), 84.
  12. Janet Schulman and Cathy Goldsmith, Your Favorite Seuss (New York: Random House, 2004), 190.

Tags from the story

Dr. Suess

Theodor Geisel

Recent Comments

Mario De Leon

This was a fun article to read. I never knew Dr. Seuss’ real name but I thought that was pretty interesting. It’s a little weird to see his cartoon characters in such serious material like in the political cartoons that have very mature content. Even though Geisel’s depiction of Asians were racist I find it interesting that the newspaper did not receive a complaint.

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01/05/2017

2:38 pm

Faisal Alqarni

Hi Tyler, I really enjoyed this article. I love the idea that Dr. Seuss told fantastical stories of faraway places by giving the readers a visual language of cartoons which easily carried his stories to new heights of artistic expression. I think his stories had an explosive energy and that is the reason why it easily took the young and old to a world of fantasy and allowed him to become a critical reference point for visual artists in the contemporary society.

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12/05/2017

2:38 pm

Abigale Carney

This article was super interesting! I had no idea that Dr. Suess was in the army to make training films. It’s kind of funny to hear that Dr. Suess used to draw racial political cartoons during WWII. From my childhood experience reading Dr. Suess books, I would have never guessed he would have partaken in any racial actions. It is also very interesting that Dr. Suess did not particularly like to write books that contain life lessons, because there are usually life lessons in all of his pieces!

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16/08/2017

2:38 pm

Zeresh Haman

This was a very fascinating article. I Have never known Dr. Seuss’ real name. I was awesome to find out that he started out in advertising. I was unaware that Dr. Seuss was so involved in politics. I was surprised to find out that he drew political cartoons and often targeted Hitler and Mussolini. It was interesting to learn that the books that he wrote had lessons, but not the typical ones that we learn through book while we are young. I believe that it is true that if children know that a book is meant to teach them a lesson then they really are not going to want to read it. That is very interesting to see how Dr. Seuss made his books appealing to children, but also made the lessons inside about bigger issues. I think this article did a wonderful job of showing that there was more to Dr. Seuss than the Cat in the Hat, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

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16/08/2017

2:38 pm

Justin Garcia

The name Dr.Seuss became synonymous with the title and image of a children’s book author. I say this because many people only knew Geisel for his books that where colorful and fun in many instances. Many people never knew or rather didn’t want to know the past of Geisel but rather the long and successful life of Dr. Seuss the Children’s book author. This article pushes forth the more obscure parts of his life. Allowing people to learn the story of Theodor Seuss Geisel the lone son born to German parents, with the experience of being a political cartoonist, ad Campaign artist/writer, and one of the most well know writers of his time. This is a great article and is definitely worth the read.

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16/08/2017

2:38 pm

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