So when I found out that Dr. Seuss made anti-Japanese propaganda, I was a pretty shocked. How could the author of Cat in the Hat and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish have created such ugly caricatures?

As we saw in How To Spot a Jap, WWII was a time for American artists to use their talents to make racist propaganda for the war effort.

And given the size of WWII, everybody who could contribute something did, including Theodor Seuss Geisel AKA Dr. Seuss.

While Dr. Seuss created propaganda against every enemy of the US (including a lot of quality Hitler caricatures), his propaganda against the Japanese really stands out.

Unlike his propaganda against Nazi Germany, Dr. Seuss’s anti-Japanese propaganda had a racist element behind it. All of the nasty racist stereotypes you’ve ever seen- buck teeth, slanty eyes, replacing Rs with Ls – Dr. Seuss included in his drawings.

You can also see Dr. Seuss’s distinct artstyle. Check out some of the propaganda for yourself:

Dr. Seuss dutifully cranked out drawing after drawing for his country, trying to turn his fellow citizens against the enemy. But eventually the war ended, and things changed.

Seuss Apologizes

After the war, Dr. Seuss began to question his beliefs about the Japanese. He’d created anti-Japanese propaganda for the US and had supported Japanese internment, but was it all justified?

Not one Japanese-American had been convicted for any sort of sabotage or treason, and the evil monsters that Dr. Seuss had drawn in his wartime propaganda turned out to be much different that he’d imagined.

So how did Dr. Seuss apologize to the Japanese? By writing a children’s book, of course.

Dr. Seuss wrote Horton Hears a Who!, in part, as an apology to the Japanese that he’d demonized during the war with his propaganda.

Published in 1954, Horton Hears a Who! was dedicated to a Japanese friend of Dr. Seuss, and the story itself is meant to be a metaphor for American postwar occupation of Japan.

While I don’t think that people will ever forget Dr. Seuss’s propaganda, I think that it’s fitting that his apology is much better remembered. It’s a great children’s book that really stands the test of time, and has a heartfelt core message.

Although if Dr. Seuss had known that Horton Hears a Who! was going to be turned into that awful movie, I’m sure he would have found another way to apologize.

It starts with a nice little intro page (lots of wasted black ink!). Then there’s some Mandarin in there to help you out. “nee EE YAH!oo SHEHM-muh? waw UH yoh OH S YAHNG YEHN!”

It starts with a couple of Asians getting picked up by a patrol. They look similar… or do they? Let’s check out their faces.

C’mon. Buck teeth? Also, maybe they “shuffle” because they’ve learned how to walk properly.

Okay, I could maybe see the geta thing, at least back then… The S-hissing thing is also kind of true, though not to the extent this makes it out to be. Still, something interesting I never thought about, I suppose.

I would say most prisoners shouldn’t be trusted. Also, is this the origin of the fanny pack? Do all Japanese tourists have a “Guardian of Honor” on them? I better watch out for those camera toting, high-socks fanny pack wearing Japanese seniors. Also, what are “comic strip gadgets?” Go-go-gadget pistol!

A nice little s-s-sss-sumary, and a reminder that the Japanese have tricked the Chinese even (omg). Be careful out there, soldier!

This comic was drawn up by Milton Caniff who is known for doing “Terry and the Pirates.” While it’s not particularly the type of thing you’d want associated to your name nowadays, these were definitely different times.

I’m hesitant to say that this book is “horrible” or “wrong” (it was), but it was probably a necessity of the times. Everyone stereotyped and got all racist because that’s the kind of war it had become. Almost nothing about WWII was good, but it’s also hard to get upset at something like this, I think. If anything, it’s a nice reminder of how far we’ve really come. For one thing, most people don’t use the word “Jap” anymore. I know people say “oh that’s racist” or “don’t stereotype” all the time these days still but wow, just think about how things were only 70 years ago. The US was putting people in camps for being Japanese, Japanese were forcing Koreans and Chinese into labor camps, and Nazis were being Nazis. It was pretty bad to say the least. Also, segregation only officially ended in 1964. That was like… not that long ago. At this rate in another 50 years the people of earth will be one big happy rainbow.

So, there’s your entertainment for the day. Be sure to share this information with your friends and family. You never know when you’ll need to know this information. They could still be out there, sneaking, pretending to be one of us… fanny packs, man. Fanny packs.