Image: Dr Seuss - 5th Column, 1942

Description: Editorial cartoon in 1942 in the New York newspaper PM by children's author Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) with the caption 'Waiting for the Signal From Home', portraying Japanese Americans in California, Oregon, and Washington as a fifth column loyal to Imperial Japan, receiving explosives, prepared to conduct sabotage against the United States when directed by their mother country. Public fears like this, excited by the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on the then-neutral U.S., led to the internment of 120,000 ethnic Japanese U.S. citizens during World War 2. Geisel, who published many patriotic cartoons during the War, supported internment, saying: "But right now, when the Japs are planting their hatchets in our skulls, it seems like a hell of a time for us to smile and warble: "Brothers!" It is a rather flabby battle cry. If we want to win, we've got to kill Japs, whether it depresses John Haynes Holmes or not. We can get palsy-walsy afterward with those that are left."
Usage Terms: Public domain