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Originally Posted by temujin77
It was cartoons such as this one that made Geisel rather controversial. Was it an indication of his gross prejudice toward Japanese people? Or was it merely Geisel's parody of society? University of Massachusetts History professor Richard H. Minear writes "Perhaps it is no surprise that American cartoonists during the Pacific War painted Japan in overtly racist ways. However, it is a surprise that a person who denounces anti-black racism and anti-Semitism so eloquently can be oblivious of his own racist treatment of Japanese and Japanese Americans."
I can't claim to be an expert of Geisel, so if anyone has any additional info on him, particularly on the issue of racism, please do share.
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In looking through the cartoons I was also struck by this issue. I can't know what he was thinking but as much as Japanese thought themselves superior and their land sacred, common American sentiment of the time saw them as inferior. As is well known, small numbers of German- and Italian-Americans were interned during the war, but
large numbers of Japanese-Americans were held.
To see more of the cartoons and read more of Minear's comments, see
Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel.