"He's a noisy little so-and-so, but he's all ours."

CCLXXXIII

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 – 1991) was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was the son of a brewer and the grandchild of German immigrants. Theodor grew up speaking German at home.  When he was ten years old his family became especial targets of prejudice as a wave of “patriotic” anti-German feeling swept the country in the opening days of World War I. 

Geisel attended Dartmouth College beginning in 1921. While at Dartmouth he began drawing cartoons for the college’s magazine Jack O’ Lantern. From the very beginning his artwork was marked by its fantastical-looking denizens, most of whom symbolized some aspect of the subject of the cartoon. 

Unfortunately, he was caught drinking by school authorities during a dorm party; for this violation of Prohibition they forced him to quit all extracurricular activities. To continue drawing, he adopted the pen name “Seuss” (his mother’s maiden name) and even though the artwork of “Seuss” was identical to that of “Theo Geisel”, officialdom turned a blind eye. He graduated with honors in 1925, and matriculated at Oxford University in England the next year, determined to achieve a Ph.D in English Literature. He immediately began drawing for student publications as well. 

His Student Advisor, seeing his work, advised well: She told Geisel to focus on art, not literature. Geisel left Oxford shortly thereafter, but added “Dr.” to his pseudonym in honor of the degree he didn’t get.* He also married his Student Advisor.

Geisel invented the artwork and the catchphrase, which became a popular expression throughout the United States, much like “Where’s the beef?” or “Show me the money!” He became rich just as the rest of the world was becoming impoverished

“Dr. Seuss” and his bride returned to the U.S. in 1927. He began his career doing advertising artwork and invented a famous ad campaign for “Flit!”, a bug spray, that went national. His “Flit!” work put him in demand. By 1929, he was wealthier than any of his Dartmouth classmates.

He wrote two books in the early Thirties, entitled Boners and More Boners, each being comprised of “Kids say the darndest things!” type-material. Both were best-sellers.   

His work, combined with prudent investing, allowed his wife and himself to ride out the Great Depression without effect; at a time when most people couldn’t afford trolley fare without wincing, the Geisels were traveling extensively around the world, taking the Britannic to Britain and the China Clipper to China. By 1936, they had visited 30 countries.

Geisel and his wife flew Pan Am’s Orient Express to Hong Kong and then traveled into the heart of China. While on the Li River he saw these odd mountains. They appeared in the artwork of several of his later books

Geisel was perturbed by what he saw. An unabashed liberal, the rise of authoritarian regimes throughout the world upset him greatly. He was particularly troubled and (as a native German speaker) deeply shamed by the treatment the National Socialists were dealing out to the Jews.

Coming back from Europe, on board ship he wrote his first true children’s book in verse, And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street. It was rejected as “weird” by 45 publishers, but just before Seuss gave up on it, he submitted it to Vanguard Press where the Reader, an old Dartmouth classmate, recognized the name “Seuss” and submitted it for publication. 

He wrote four more children’s books between 1936 and 1941, but he also began working on pro-Interventionist political cartoons. He believed Americans were clueless about the true state of world affairs and he was driven to educate the public.

Geisel felt that Gerald Nye and the Isolationist Bloc in Congress (mostly, but not entirely made up of Republicans) was burying its head in the sand when it came to the obviously coming Second World War

While Europe burned, Gerald Nye began an investigation of “Communists in Hollywood”, largely targeting Jewish actors and producers. While it never had the chance to grow into a true Red Scare, Nye’s Congressional successors turned this fixation into the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the Blacklist

Despite his liberalism, Geisel felt the common prejudice of the time against Japanese-Americans. His caricatures of Asians tended to be stereotypes and he believed they were untrustworthy citizens. During the war his attitude changed and he expressed shame and remorse for this portion of his work, which contributed to the internment of the Japanese-American community in 1942. Horton Hears a Who is the story of his change of heart

A complacent Uncle Sam dreams on

Most of Theodor Geisel’s cartoons appeared in the Left-Liberal New York magazine PM. He used the ostrich motif dozens of times to criticize the American popular attitude toward the war

One of Geisel’s most consistent political targets was Charles Lindbergh, who, he constantly reminded readers, had accepted the Order of the German Eagle Cross from Hitler

Geisel despised Hitler whom he felt was a blot on the proud page of German history. He changed his given name from “Theodor” to “Theodore” for the duration of the war. He was still not universally known as “Dr. Seuss”. The story of Yertle The Turtle is based upon Adolf Hitler

Scores more cartoons lambasted “America First” of which Lindbergh was the chief spokesman

Geisel was furious at the lagging pace of even Cash & Carry shipments to Great Britain. America’s complacency in the face of the world conflagration outraged him

The December 8, 1941 edition of PM featured this cartoon

In the postwar story The Sneetches (1953) these whimsical creatures, some of whom are born with “stars upon thars” and others not, get scammed by a confidence man named Sylvester McMonkey McBean who convinces both types of Sneetches that stars are preferable, then no stars, then stars again, and over and over, until he has taken them for their last penny. Critics saw this story immediately as an allegory of Hitler and Naziism. During the Nazi era, Jews were forced to wear six-pointed yellow stars that immediately marked them out and made them subject to all forms of social, economic and physical abuse (including death). In Seuss’s story the stars are five-pointed and green and the Sneetches are yellow. McBean gets away scot-free

In 1972, Suess wrote of Marvin K. Mooney, an insufferable egotist and pest, who just wouldn’t leave. Some years later he admitted that “Marvin K. Mooney” was based on “Richard M. Nixon”

*Dartmouth awarded Theodor Seuss Geisel a Doctorate of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) in 1956

This post is dedicated to the memory of Theodor Seuss Geisel, born March 2, 1904. Happy birthday, Doctor Seuss!