Posters Artwork Documents

"The Wearing of the Green" in a Neutral State ...

Dr Seuss.

The cartoonist Dr Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), son of German immigrants, turned from a progressive career in children's writing and advertising to political cartoons during WW2. Geisel was a staunch supporter of President Roosevelt and his policies and against his isolationist and Axis-supporting opponents. One of the relatively minor irritations afflicting Roosevelt (and Churchill) during the war was the neutrality of the Irish Free State. It would indeed have been useful for Britain and the US to have access to Irish territory and Irish ports. The fact that Irish neutrality was, in effect, pro-Allied (we knew who we were neutral against, much as we do today) did not prevent the US government, in particular, from adopting the harshest line possible (allowing for the large Irish vote in the US) aimed at persuading the Free State to enter the war on the Allied side. This insensitive policy, while understandable in the circumstances, was never likely to succeed. At least the US interest restrained pressure from the UK actually to invade the Free State, which would have represented something of a disaster for the Republican Party in the US. The message of the cartoon is clear. Made in 1942, it argues that Irish neutrality was inviting Hitler, in the event of a German victory, to bring the snakes (in this case Nazi ones) back to Ireland (legend has it that our national saint, St Patrick, drove them out). The tune to the lyrics would have been well known to Geisel's American audience in 1942 - I could sing them now. Best regards, JR.