I thought this guy was most ridiculous idea for a villain when I first heard about him. But then again, this guy probably came out during World War II, when America was burning with patriotism, so I can see why they'd have this guy as a villain. But also, it sounds like an alternate version of Captain America...
Looks like he was originally created in December 1941.. So it is kind of a patriotism deal... I always thought it was neat to at least acknowledge the time period and all... Bringing him back in the 90's was cool since it was harking back to the comics of the WWII era and all...
I kind of figured that was the case. The thing is though, almost all the cartoons were giving propaganda about WWII. Disney, Looney Tunes, Popeye, and a whole bunch of others did this for "Support the War Effort!" and stuff. I wonder why we don't do this now with popular children's cartoons to help support the effort for the war we're in right now.
Offensive Japanese caricatures aside, I think it's mainly because we live in a time where we don't want our children thinking/worrying about war for the most part... Plus, the cartoons of the time (Looney Tunes, Disney, and Popeye) were all intended for adults before the feature presentation at the movie theater...