He was born this month, 120 years ago. Barely known by his given name – which was Theodor – he loved to write, had a whimsical sense of humor, and by good fortune ended up at Dartmouth College. His life and the lessons it teaches are timely.
First, in an era of declining education – and declining interest in reading – his life is an example, as he was America’s top promotor of reading by kids, pushing kids not just to read, but to love reading, with animal drawings and deft text, rhyming, rhythm, and a chance to laugh in the process.
His children’s books, 45 in all, match rising enrollment rates and literacy among children. Forty-one of his animated books were written after 1947. From 1950 to 1991, the year he died, enrollment for kids rose from 50 to 90 percent. Theodor did his part, his books were translated into 20 languages, and 700 million copies were sold.
Second, he was the embodiment of the American dream, gaining admission to a college that taught him to write, blending a love of drawing, writing, and kids to create a lasting impression on the American mind, and never dissuaded when the world conspired to browbeat or beat him.
At college, he was caught – during prohibition – serving friends “gin,” causing him to be stripped of extracurricular activities, including writing for a humor magazine. Quietly encouraged by one professor to keep writing, he began signing with his middle name, one you will know if you have not guessed yet.
Earning admission to Oxford, he imagined being a professor, but then met a woman – his future wife – who liked his drawings and thought he might make a good children’s author. He decided to give it a go.
Just before World War II, he imagined a book – filled with funny creatures – taking place on “Mulberry Street.” Rejected by 43 publishers, one finally took the chance.
In WWII, he joined the Army. Not compelled to do so, he did it for his country, began drawing wartime cartoons, firmly denounced Hitler, Mussolini, the isolationists, and deplored racism against Jews and Black Americans, anyone, pressing the case for selflessness at home and Allied victory abroad.
War over, he returned to children’s books, and threw himself into an effort to elevate childhood literacy, then stagnant. Implored to write what “children cannot put down,” he wrote an imaginative tale about a feline in a top hat, an endless source of trouble – and frolicking entertainment. It worked.
His gin offenses forgotten, Dartmouth gave him an honorary doctorate in 1955, which he joked made him a double doctor, for reasons you have guessed or will soon learn. His books soared.
Although he died in 1991, his last volume – published the year before – is considered by many his most inspirational, with a theme that encourages young and old, reminds us that our destiny is always before us, that “You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!”
Third, Theodor has become emblematic of what happens when history and culture are taken out of context, when a political agenda triumphs over conversation and art, and when the political left seeks blood.
In 2018, he became a poster author for cancel culture, the National Education Association cancelling a contract for his books in support of “Read Across America” Day – a day founded on his birthday.
Chilling speech, failing to recognize the value of books penned 30 to 90 years ago, the NEA canceled Theodor, prompting his own publisher to cancel the republication of six books, illustrations insufficiently sensitive, cartoons too racist, art inappropriate for our time.
One begins to wonder, as society keeps canceling culture, where things stop. As the left erases art and literature, where does that lead? Are Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna,” Dali’s “Christ of St. John of the Cross,” Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son,” Murillo’s “The Immaculate Conception” and Orthodox icons – amply progressive? Do they offend enough for removal?
In any event, as his 120th birthday comes and goes, we are well to remember the art and author who made us laugh and wonder, rhyme, dream, and appreciate Yertle the Turtle, Horton’s Who, Green Eggs and Ham, Cat in the Hat, Grinch, and Lorax, One Fish-Two Fish, and “Oh, the Places You Will Go!”
When creativity is let loose, not penned up, given wing; when kids are allowed to speak, wonder, and sing; when the American Dream is honored not cancelled, literacy and art not put down but to good use, we get real genius, like … Dr. Seuss. With freedom, you just never know the places you will go!
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
