# Horton Hears a Who is an allegory for the occupation of Japan?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horton-hears-a-who-is-an-allegory-for-the-occupation-of-japan/569018>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 26, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horton-hears-a-who-is-an-allegory-for-the-occupation-of-japan/569018 "2011-01-26T03:57:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horton-hears-a-who-is-an-allegory-for-the-occupation-of-japan/569018/1 "2011-01-26T03:57:41Z")

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Looking up Dr Suess on wikipedia for another thread and I came across the information that _Horton Hears a Who!_ was “an allegory for the Hiroshima bombing and the American post-war occupation of Japan”.

Can anyone explain this for the metaphorically impaired?

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**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horton-hears-a-who-is-an-allegory-for-the-occupation-of-japan/569018/2 "2011-01-26T04:05:14Z")

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Dunno that one, but “Yertle the Turtle” was about Hitler.

Jewish sounding name, Yertle.