Political Cartoons

Political cartoons have played an active role in US culture and politics since the mid-eighteenth century, when their modern incarnation rose in popularity. What began as posters and street flyers quickly grew in acclaim with the rise of newspapers and print magazines, and provocative cartoons began driving readers to the newsstands. By using a rich mixture of caricature, comedy, and commentary, political cartoons are able to engage with controversial topics and sway their audiences to their viewpoint, promoting or demoting general opinion and governmental authority.

Cover of book with small version of Adolf Hitler carving a large statue of himself of a horse with a sword, wearing a suit of armor with a crowned bird on the shield and cherubs lowering a helmet onto his head with a swastika carved into the visor, and a mermaid at the base of the statue; all creatures have Adolf Hitler's mustache

Richard H. Minear. Dr. Seuss goes to war: the World War II editorial cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York : New Press, ©1999.

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare-L D745.2 .M56 1999

Dr. Seuss Goes to War

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known by his pseudonym Dr. Seuss, started his career writing political cartoons for the New York newspaper PM in 1941. Geisel’s cartoons focused on the political injustices within the US and heavily criticized the country’s desire for isolation from the events in Europe. The cartoons condemned racial segregation and Jim Crow laws, as well as antisemitism in the United States; at the same time, Geisel characterized Japanese soldiers in explicitly racist ways. This process of “othering” was often seen during the war on both sides, with either side portraying their citizens as heroic and powerful and the opposing forces as evil, villainous “others.” Geisel draws many members of the Axis as odd and grotesque monsters, though his portrayals also come off as almost buffoonish and goofy, something to be laughed at. Geisel’s cartoons also promoted the purchase of war stamps and bonds to provide funding to the troops on the home front.

Cartoon of a large bird blown away by an explosion

Richard H. Minear. Dr. Seuss goes to war: the World War II editorial cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York : New Press, ©1999.

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare-L D745.2 .M56 1999

Cartoon of Uncle Sam using a funnel devise to blow an insect out of a man's ear, a long line of men standing behind him

Richard H. Minear. Dr. Seuss goes to war: the World War II editorial cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York : New Press, ©1999.

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare-L D745.2 .M56 1999

Cartoon of Hitler and a man singing while men hang from nooses in the trees above

Richard H. Minear. Dr. Seuss goes to war: the World War II editorial cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York : New Press, ©1999.

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare-L D745.2 .M56 1999

Cartoon of large plane with many guns chasing Adolf Hitler, who rides a smaller plane with a Nazi flag

Richard H. Minear. Dr. Seuss goes to war: the World War II editorial cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York : New Press, ©1999.

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare-L D745.2 .M56 1999

Cover of book with large white lettering, white stars, and red and blue background

Chicago Tribune. War Cartoons. [Chicago], [©1942].

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare - XL D745.2 .C5 1942

War Cartoons

War Cartoons contains a series of political cartoons published in The Chicago Tribune during the first nine months of the US’s involvement in the war from 1941-1942. The collection features work by John T. McCutcheon, Carey Orr, Joe Parrish, and Carl Somdal. Like Geisel’s work, many of these cartoons were created to encourage Americans to purchase war bonds and stamps. The single-panel cartoons also emphasize the labor front in the US and its effect on the war effort. While Nazi Germany and the Axis forces are the focus of most of the cartoons, many depict racist caricatures of Japanese soldiers contrasted with athletic, handsome all-American ones. Similarly to the depictions of Japanese soldiers, members of the Nazi army are drawn as piggish brutes and even demons and devils, equating the work of the Axis group to pure evil. In one cartoon, Joe Parrish depicts Adolf Hitler giving a speech to the Nazi army. In the background of the image, Napoleon Bonaparte and Kaiser Wilhelm II hover like ghosts posed on a mountain of skulls. The caption is a reference to Proverbs 14:16: "The fool rageth and is confident." 

Two cartoons; the leftmost of Uncle Sam removing the helmet from a suit of armor, a fighting crowd, and a large man with an army uniform and a sword looming in the background; the rightmost of a military pilot pulling on gloves, Uncle Sam and the American flag, and a plane flying overhead

Chicago Tribune. War Cartoons. [Chicago], [©1942].

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare - XL D745.2 .C5 1942

Two cartoons; the leftmost with two panels of Uncle Sam, one with him behind a booth with the American flag and a soldier, one with Uncle Sam in a prison uniform behind bars with the Nazi flag; the rightmost with multiple panels of a bomb falling on one side of the globe

Chicago Tribune. War Cartoons. [Chicago], [©1942].

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare - XL D745.2 .C5 1942

Two cartoons; The leftmost of Hitler with one hand in his coat and his other in the air, Napoleon Bonaparte and Kaiser Wilhelm II in the background on a mountain of skulls, and the Nazi army in the foreground; the rightmost of Uncle Sam sitting at a window and a man approaching, reaching into his pocket

Chicago Tribune. War Cartoons. [Chicago], [©1942].

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare - XL D745.2 .C5 1942

Two cartoons; the leftmost of a man sitting in a military tank and dropping bombs with money symbols on a man in Ancient Roman armor with Hitler's mustache and buckteeth, the rightmost of a large man with another man pulling a tape measure around his waist, a dog barking, and Uncle Same and other men in the background

Chicago Tribune. War Cartoons. [Chicago], [©1942].

MU Ellis Special Collections Rare - XL D745.2 .C5 1942