Hanging on

President Roosevelt hangs from a hot air balloon “The 25th Regiment Affair” and holds onto a big stick labeled, “Prestige.” The U.S. Capitol building and Washington Monument can be seen on the ground. Caption: I’d let go of this Blamed thing, but I might break my “Big Stick.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist G. T. Hayward, in an awkward amalgam of icons and symbols, portrays the famed “Big Stick” of President Roosevelt as a cartoon prop signifying prestige rather than the routine attributes of power and persuasion.

Surely any reversal on the issue of the “25th Regiment” — the black soldiers cashiered in the infamous “Brownsville Incident” — would have damaged Roosevelt’s prestige. So the circus analogy and the danger of falling from the hot-air balloon had relevance. Lost in the fog of history, not only contemporaneous debates, was the likely proposition that Roosevelt probably would have treated any regiment, no matter their ethnic or racial constituency, in precisely the same manner. Such was his mode of conduct and discipline; otherwise he extended courtesies (and offices) to blacks during his presidency.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-12

Creator(s)

Haywood, G. T. (Garfield Thomas)

Language

English

Period

U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)

Page Count

1

Production Method

Printed

Record Type

Image

Resource Type

Cartoon

Rights

These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.

Citation