Theodore Seuss Geisel’s Inspiration

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When you hear Dr. Seuss many people think back to their childhood of reading books written by Dr. Seuss. Not only did he write books for kids but he also was a propaganda maker in World War II. Many people; however, do not know that his real name is Theodore Seuss Geisel; and even fewer people know about his inspirations. Theodore Seuss Geisel’s inspiration for the ideas in his writing came from World War II, his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, and sights and sounds that he encountered on his trips. Many people may not know that Dr. Seuss wrote political propaganda for World War II, most people only know about the stories that he wrote. Before the war he had been working for several magazines including Vanity Fair, Judge, and Life, making cartoons and advertisements for these magazines. As the war came around it gave Theodore something to focus on in his works. At the time that the war had begun Theodore was too old to enlist into the army, but he still wanted to help out in any way that he could (Theodore). He acquired a job at New York’s daily newspaper PM, and began making political cartoons and writings about the war (Popova). During this time he made hundreds of cartoons with sayings attacking Germany and the Nazis, as well as trying to draw support from the Americans to want to join in the war. Another popular propaganda that Theodore made in many different forms was to buy war bonds to aid in the war. Besides just making posters and sayings for the war he also wrote several short moral boosting movies for the soldiers. One of the last things that he made for the war was instructions to the soldiers on how to treat the Germans while they were moving through Germany after their defeat. At one point in making this he was instructed to put in that the soldiers were not to fraternize with the Germans; he was a little weary to put this in because he had
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