14. Dr. Seuss and Adolf the Wolf
In October 1941, two months before America’s entry into the World War II, Dr. Seuss published what was likely his most fervently expressed attack on the isolationists and America First supporters of the United States remaining out of the Second World War. The cartoon was untitled, but came to be known as Adolf the Wolf due to the appearance of that phrase within. The cartoon featured an American woman wearing old fashioned high topped buttoned-up boots and glasses, placing her as a grandmother, and reading to two children, one sitting on either side of her. The book from which she is reading is entitled Adolf the Wolf and the two children appear to be stunned by what she is reading, which is shared with the person viewing the cartoon.
“…and the wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones…” reads the cartoon. Then beneath it another line reads, “But those were Foreign Children and it really didn’t matter”. The grandmotherly figure is smiling, and it isn’t clear if the second line was read from the book or an expression of her opinion, though the America First which appears on her sweater would seem to indicate that it was the latter. A swastika appears on the spine of the book to further clarify to whom Adolf the Wolf referred. The cartoon was published at a time of great debate in the United States, including in Congress, over whether to alter American immigration laws to allow the entry of the rising numbers of refugees from Europe, including raising the quotas for Jews, an option thoroughly and rabidly opposed by the American First movement.