Famed columnist Art Buchwald was another dear friend of Ted’s. The two met at the San Diego Zoo and quickly struck up a friendship. One of Ted’s shining moments was when he responded to Buchwald’s chiding about Ted having never written a political book: Ted took a copy of Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now!, crossed out Marvin’s name, and replaced it with “Richard M. Nixon.” With Ted’s blessing and despite protests from Random House, Buchwald printed the text in his column, and President Nixon resigned the following day (with Ted and Buchwald cheering for their collaborative effort).
Animator Chuck Jones met Ted as a civilian overseer of Frank Capra’s unit back in World War II, and the two remained friends for life. It was Jones who approached Ted about an animated Grinch special, and eventually Horton Hears a Who! Their collaborations were often heated, but the results were stunning. Jones describes their partnerships as “equally difficult and equally enjoyable.” (Morgan, 192) They also shared an affinity for bow ties, arguing for hours about the proper way to loop them. (Morgan, p. 109)

The Tower/Writing Habits
In 1948, Ted and Helen purchased an old observation tower in La Jolla (la-HOY-yah), California. “The Tower,” as it soon became known, was to remain the primary Geisel residence for the remainder of their lives. It was there that Ted worked his creative magic, locked in the studio within The Tower for at least eight hours each day and very often, much longer than that.
Janet Schulman, who is now semi-retired but continues her role as vice president of Random House Books for Young Readers, admits that Ted’s actual writing process was a bit of a mystery: “He was so private about it,” she explains. “When he was working on a book, he always had a general idea of what the book was going to be, but he put these pieces of paper on the wall, and there would be ‘holes’ within the sequence that usually belonged to the transition points.”
Others recall Ted putting on a “thinking cap” from his amazing hat collection and wearing it to help lighten the stress of creative blocks.
However he managed to do it, there’s no discrepancy that he did it well. “He was absolutely no trouble, he didn’t pester you like some authors can do, and he enjoyed both critical and commercial success,” Schulman reflects. “I miss him terribly—there will never be another Dr. Seuss.”

Issues/Opinions/Inspirations
Like most works of merit, the works of Dr. Seuss have been overanalyzed; many scholars have found devices where there are truly none to be found. For the most part, Ted enjoyed writing entertaining books that encouraged children to read. There are several—his later books, in particular—that were, in fact, inspired by current events or his own personal concerns.
For example, Ted was upset about the billboards and construction that threatened his tranquil community of La Jolla. On a broader spectrum, however, Ted was concerned about the environment as a whole; he wanted manufacturers, businesses, and individuals to take responsibility for their actions. The Lorax, published in 1971, weaves a familiar tale of a good thing gone wrong: the irresponsible, ambitious Once-ler builds a huge, thriving business at the expense of Truffula trees and the creatures who depend on them. Ted remained true to the Seussian style, but still managed to shame the current generation and challenge the next generation by demonstrating the pitfalls of progress . . . “unless.” (The Lorax, p.58)
The Butter Battle Book, perhaps the most controversial of all his books, was written in response to the arms buildup and nuclear war threat during the Reagan administration. Published in 1984, Butter Battle sheds light on the growing threat of war between the Yooks and the Zooks. The threat stems solely from the way Yooks and Zooks choose to eat their bread: butter-side up and butter-side down, respectively. The story ends with a blank page, leaving a cliffhanger ending that is open to interpretation. When Ted presented this particular project, Random House saw red flags!
For the first time in decades, editors and art directors questioned Dr. Seuss—the cover, the ending, the verb tenses, even the title itself went through several changes. Never one to initiate confrontation, Ted suddenly found himself defending every element in question. Ted remained as true to the original as possible because the book represented the truth about the arms buildup. Ultimately, few changes were made.

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