Lambdin, Victor Ralph, 1876-1963

President Roosevelt skates in the shape of “statesmanship” while Uncle Sam, John Bull, and three British politicians look on: Joseph Chamberlain, Leader of the House of Lords Henry Charles Keith Petty-FitzMaurice Lansdowne, and Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour. Caption: (“If any other feeling is mingled with our admiration of the President’s clear thinking and straight-forward utterance of thought, it is a feeling of regret that these ideas have not animated all our own statesmen.”—London Post.)

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-25

The ghosts of Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley put their hands on President Roosevelt’s shoulders as he uses the “Republican record” and “prosperity” reins. Caption: “The shades of Lincoln and M’Kinley are guiding the nation in the way it should go!” Tenor of President Roosevelt’s Speech of Acceptance.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-27

President Roosevelt uses “the big stick” to break the “steamboat inspection service” door as inspectors run out.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-06

Governor William Sulzer sits in a horse-drawn wagon labeled “Direct Primaries,” between William Randolph Hearst and President Roosevelt.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The context is a matter of “strange bedfellows” — the Progressive Roosevelt, New York Governor William Sulzer, and reformer publisher Hearst. The three were uneasy allies, especially as the radical United States Representative Sulzer was elected governor in 1912. One of his first initiatives was to strengthen New York’s weak direct Primary system by a ballot initiative in 1913 — the subject of Lambdin’s cartoon. The move was defeated, and due to Sulzer’s break with the corrupt Tammany Democrat organization, he was impeached on vague accusations and removed from office. In 1914 he sought the Progressive nomination for governor.