Dr. Suess isn’t known as a political cartoonist, yet he created hundreds of posters and cartoons reflecting his opposition to fascism and isolationism as well as his support of President Roosevelt during World War II.
He wasn’t a New Yorker, but one political cartoon from 1941 poked fun at the corrupt Tammany political machine that controlled New York City politcs from the late 1800s to the 1930s and 1940s.
That Tammany cat looks kinda familiar, no? Picture him with a tall top hat.
The Tammany Society (reportedly named after Tamenend, a Lenape Indian leader) built the first Tammany Hall on 14th Street, then relocated to a new structure on 17th Street and Union Square East.
The new Tammany Hall didn’t get much use though; by the 1930s, with the election of reform-minded Mayor LaGuardia, among other factors, Tammany’s influence weakened. In 1984, the second Tammany Hall building became an off-Broadway theater still standing today.
Here it is in the 1920s:
Tags: Dr. Suess, politcal cartoons, Tammany Hall, Tammany Machine
Ephemeral New York 
November 3, 2008 at 2:31 pm |
How fascinating. I am always interested in finding out unknown facts about those persons whom we think we know. There seems to usually be so much more when we scratch the surface! Thanks for weeding this one out.
November 4, 2008 at 5:15 pm |
[…] be fresh for the morning vote. [The Transom] A window into the political mind of Dr. Seuss and his ribbing of the corrupt Tammany political machine. [Ephemeral New […]
October 22, 2009 at 5:48 pm |
Great cartoon. My son will be showing it in his class election tomorrow as a form of protest to those other candidates who used candy to bribe, (or as a teacher phrased it, “smartly campaign”) their classmates. Too bad no one will get it, but that’s half the pleasure of it.
March 15, 2010 at 10:15 am |
u mean, Thanks for Tweeding it out
November 3, 2014 at 3:57 am |
[…] great holiday used to last a full thirty hours,” wrote Harpo. “On election eve, Tammany forces marched up and down the avenues by torchlight, with bugles blaring and drums booming. There was free beer for the men, and free […]