Dr. Seuss` Political Cartoons of World War II Cartoon B

Dr. Seuss’ Political Cartoons of World War II
Cartoon B
"Dr. Seuss' campaign for civil rights and against racism and anti-Semitism had one major blind spot: Americans of
Japanese descent. At the time of Pearl Harbor nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans lived on the West Coast. Twothirds were US citizens by birth. Many of the others were prevented by law from becoming citizens. Soon after
Pearl Harbor, the American government ordered the forced relocation and internment of all Japanese Americans
living on the West Coast. One February 13, 1942, just days before the Roosevelt administration's decision to
incarcerate all Japanese Americans living on the West coast, Dr. Seuss drew "Waiting for the Signal From Home. . .
." It shows the West Coast-Washington, Oregon, and California-and a horde of smiling, spectacled, virtually
identical Asians lining up to pick up blocks of TNT from a warehouse labeled "Honorable 5th Column." A smiling
fellow on the roof looks through a telescope out to sea fro the "signal from home." It is an curious cartoon. For one
thing, no Japanese American on the West coast was ever convicted of an act of sabotage. General John DeWitt, the
individual most responsible for incarceration, could not have asked for more effective propaganda.