Kessler, Camillus

President Roosevelt–holding a “big stick” and dressed in knight’s armor–sits atop a horse decked in medieval armor on statue pedestal labeled “Saint Louis.” His shield reads, “To the front. 14 ft thro’ the valley.”

Comments and Context

The occasion of this cartoon was President Roosevelt’s passage, after speaking in Keokuk, Iowa, on a stern-wheel steamboat down the Mississippi River, past St. Louis, Missouri; and Cairo, Illinois. It was a boat of great size and displacement (atop which was a large “Texas,” the control and steering cabin, from which the president surveyed river and shorelines every mile), hence the cartoonist’s awkward legend on the shield. Roosevelt noted that the river was so muddy and shallow and narrow in spots that its seemed like a ravine, and he marveled at the ship’s ability to navigate.

Among the support and attending vessels was a boat with seventeen governors who would be conferring with the president on his tour of the Midwest and South.

Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, Secretary of State Elihu Root, Secretary of War William H. Taft, and Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon — all depicted like chickens — and a large mother hen labeled “Roosevelt’s policies” squawk at a duck depicting Philander C. Knox in the pool of “states’ rights.”

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Comments and Context

If Philander C. Knox was not an ugly duckling in the Republican Party of his day, his close relationship with Theodore Roosevelt made him an odd duck in Roosevelt’s circle.

President Roosevelt’s footsteps can be seen on a road with a sign, “This way to the 3rd term.” They cannot get around the “Solid South” barrier in the road, and the footprints turn back away from the barrier. Caption: “‘If I could be positively assured of the electoral vote of a single Southern State I would gladly be a candidate for the presidency next year.’ –T.R.” 

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Comments and Context

“The Mysterious Stranger” by John T. McCutcheon was another cartoon that dealt with presidential politics, the “Solid South,” and footsteps; and this drawing, “Closed!” by Camillus Kessler, employs the same themes and memes, but three years later and without figures. In a way, then, it is more of pure political cartoon, relying on symbols as it does.

President Roosevelt lights a “Taft boom” stick of dynamite outside of the “White House.” Beside him are previously lit sticks of dynamite: “Fairbanks boom,” “Shaw boom,” “Root boom,” and “Cannon boom.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-22

President Roosevelt sits at a desk with two pens—one “for pure food bill” with a tag of “souvenir for meat trust” and one “for railroad rate bill” with a tag of “souvenir for railroad trusts.” Caption: President Roosevelt signed the statehood bill with two pens, using a gold pen to write the name “Theodore” and an eagle quill for “Roosevelt.” The pens will be placed in the archives of the Oklahoma Historical Society as souvenirs of the event.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-20

Cartoon depicting Theodore Roosevelt with his new granddaughter Grace on his lap, frustrated by the inability to play with a girl. Around them are mementos of his masculine avocations.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Kessler drew this cartoon for the St. Louis Republic. By the 1920s he was drawing a human-interest panel cartoon syndicated to rural newspapers by Metropolitan Newspaper Features.

In the first section, President Roosevelt holds his big stick and walks toward the “House” and the “Senate.” In the second section, Roosevelt accidentally hits the “House” as he reaches for a “message from the jungle.” In the third section, Roosevelt glares at the “House,” who sits on the ground, and hits the “Senate” in the head as the messenger laughs. In the fourth section, Roosevelt walks away as the “House” and the “Senate” point their fists at him.

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Comments and Context

Cartoonist Camillus Kessler drew for several St. Louis newspapers — the Women’s National Journal, the Republic, The Star, and Joseph Pulitzer’s Post-Dispatch— all consistently Democratic in focus. This cartoon, for the Star, is however virtually free of partisan rancor. It treats President Roosevelt’s tilts with Congress not as bitter controversies (which they were) but as unconscious side-effect of his other preoccupations. Most readers would have assumed that the whacks delivered to Congress in the cartoon were over the raging Secret Service imbroglio, but Kessler attributes the message about Roosevelt’s upcoming African safari as a distraction.

Holding his big stick in his left hand, President Roosevelt points a finger at a bull terrier labeled “Congress.”

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Comments and Context

The routinely partisan Democratic Women’s National Daily — at any rate consistently anti-Roosevelt — published this cartoon at the end of the president’s administration. Although Roosevelt is not depicted in a flattering manner, it is more a neutral observation of long-running disputes between the White House and Congress.

President Roosevelt sits at a desk labeled “Associate Editor” and filled with papers. On the ground is a bear skin rug and two papers: “Onward Standard Soldiers” and “The Science of Rebating.” There are three other offices: “Mr. Rogers, Managing Editor,” “Mr. Rockefeller, Editor and General Manager,” and “Mr. Archbold, Stenographer.” Rogers says, “Tell Teddy to put a four line head on that story defending our rebates!” Rockefeller says, “Tell Teddy to write an editorial on the persecution of the trusts!” On the wall is a picture of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis and a sign that reads, “In oil we trust.” Roosevelt’s big stick is in the corner.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Two weeks after the presidential election of 1908, political cartoonist Camillus Kessler of the extreme anti-Republican Women’s National Daily returned to attacking President Roosevelt, who still had approximately four more months to serve in the White House.

Many different faces of President Roosevelt are shown inside the Republican elephant.

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Comments and Context

The Women’s National Daily was a newspaper published in the University City section of St. Louis, part of a long-range but short-lived political movement that encompassed the suffrage movement, labor reforms, and political activism. There were schools on its grounds, conferences devoted to various causes were held there, and it encouraged local candidates. It never became a national movement, much less of substantial local impact, but the newspaper was one result.

President Roosevelt paints “our next president” on a canvas. From one way, it looks like William H. Taft. From the other, it looks like William Jennings Bryan.

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Comments and Context

Camillus Kessler, the facile cartoonist for the radical Woman’s National Daily in St. Louis, who would soon switch cross-town to Joseph Pulitzer’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch (and thence to Pulitzer’s New York World), invested this cartoon with clever icons and graphic representations.

President Roosevelt holds a football in the shape of William H. Taft’s head as William Jennings Bryan tries to tackle him.

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Comments and Context

Cartoonist Camillus Kessler, in the routinely anti-Roosevelt Women’s National Daily of St. Louis, drew a cartoon in the final weeks of the 1908 that made salient points about the larger circumstances related to the election.

President Roosevelt sits in several different rooms in the “White House”: “sporting editor,” “dramatic critic,” “editorial rooms,” “managing editor,” “editor and general manager,” and “press room.” Three Roosevelts rush out of the press room with newspapers: “Extra Extra: Roosevelt declares for Taft,” “Extra Extra: Roosevelt is 50 years old today–scares Bryan,” and “Later Extra: Roosevelt cracks the labor nut.” A sign is displayed on the front porch of the White House: “The Hourly Message Office. T. Roosevelt, Editor.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Less than a week before election day, political cartoonist Camillus Kessler had a funny take on President Roosevelt’s strenuous life as an advocate for the Republican ticket headed by William H. Taft. Roosevelt’s hyperactivity — his usual mode anyway — could be attributed to his normal insecurity about election contests, but also his frustration with Taft as an active campaigner; and his desire to assert and preserve his own legacy.

President Roosevelt dives off his big stick to rescue a man in water holding a “14 feet thro’ the valley” flag and crying, “Help!” “Congress”—depicted as Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon—is lying on his back in the water. Roosevelt says, “If he won’t save him, I will!”

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Comments and Context

“Infrastructure” is a contemporary term for what was once a common topic of national debate. In fact expanded its borders and settlements and trade largely through conscious efforts of the national government to build roads and bridges — usually (as befits federal involvement) between states.