Earlier this week, a school librarian in Cambridge said she was returning ten Dr. Seuss books to Melania Trump. The first lady sent the books to schools across the country as part of National Read A Book Day.
The librarian called Dr. Seuss a tired and worn ambassador for children's literature and said his illustrations are steeped in racist propaganda and harmful stereotypes.
But Mayor Dominic Sarno of Springfield, home to the new Dr. Seuss museum, called the librarian's comments political correctness at its worst.
Geisel's World War II caricatures of Japanese Americans are now widely considered racist.
But when asked what he thought of those, Sarno said:
"Why do you continue to want to point out -- go after Dr. Seuss on it? He also did a lot of things that were very helpful to the war effort, as did many other people, as did the the media."
Seuss's children's books, like Horton Hears A Who!, are now seen as renunciations of his earlier political cartoons