Legacy
Many of the political cartoons Dr. Seuss drew are still relevant today because the topics Seuss covered in
1941 are still important to the world we live in now. Themes that continue to be relevant today include
racism, facism, communism, denial of the news, isolationism, and others. Dr. Seuss successfully conveys
these messages through his cartoons. Therefore, the cartoons are a good tool to communicate these
topics, making the world function, both now and in the past.
Dr. Seuss’ political cartoons spread on social
media in the wake of then-president Donald
Trump’s travel ban on Muslim majority countries.
“Those sharing [Seuss’] 70-year-old cartoons …
said they seem timelier than ever.” (Josh
Hafner) On the right is one popular cartoon. It
shows that America First doesn’t care about the
lives of foreign children. Both Trump's and
Lindbergh's America Firsts wanted the United
States to back down and isolate itself from the
world. This example also shows how Seuss’
cartoons are still relevant today.
[" ... and the wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones ... but those were foreign children and it really didn't matter." 1941, UC San Diego Library.]