Macauley, C. R. (Charles Raymond), 1871-1934

A crowd of people cheer at a picture of President Roosevelt that reads, “We are proud that he is a Republican from New York.”

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Virginia and Ohio traditionally shared the “Mother of Presidents” title because so many of their citizens went to the White House or were consequential in national politics. But during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, New York challenged the title’s traditional holders by producing numerous presidents, vice-presidents, and presidential aspirants.

President Roosevelt gestures at “Dr. Roosevelt’s peerless, political panaceas” with “satisfaction guaranteed or your vote refunded.” There are jars for “labor unions,” “the trusts,” “the farmers,” “tariff revisionists,” “railroads,” “the newspapers,” and “employers.”

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C. R. Macauley’s cartoon of President Roosevelt as a snake-oil salesman peddling rostrums — pandering to various constituencies — was standard fare for any cartoonist in any campaign, regarding any politician of any party. Roosevelt frankly admitted to cultivating support from many corners and even engaging in political give-and-take — with “due regard for opportunism” yet never sacrificing righteousness (as he said in a 1914 court case in which he was sued for libel by a machine politician).

President Roosevelt posts his message on a wall underneath “Article II, Sec. III,” which says, “He shall, from time to time, give to the congress information of the state of the UNION.”

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C. R. Macauley’s cartoon in the New York World is a remarkable testament of the politics of the day: the closing days of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, the accelerated radicalism of his critiques of American society and its ethical moorings, especially among the monied classes, and, in a larger sense, the treatment of Roosevelt’s policies, and the growing corps of Republican insurgents and progressives as addressed by the nation’s major Democratic newspaper.

President Roosevelt walks into a meeting with “‘my policies’ band” drum and a “message to Congress” cymbal, disrupting the speaker, New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes.

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If President Roosevelt had an ulterior motive in timing the release of a major policy paper on the same day that New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes had announced an important speech bearing on his own immediate political future, The New York World saw through it, and cartoonist C. R. Macauley delineated the “coincidence” in clear terms.

President Roosevelt holds a “declination” knife in his right hand and a “3rd term” teddy bear in his left hand.

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It is a tribute, if not a simple sign, of the literacy of average people at the turn of the century, that Macauley’s cartoon presumably was understood by readers. Entitled simply “Virginius,” the drawing appeared in the New York World, one of the nation’s largest-circulation newspapers, but a leading “yellow journal,” often sensationalist, and with a large number of immigrants among its readership.

President Roosevelt uses his big stick to push a large cylinder with the labels, “message,” “30,000 words,” and “use no hooks.”

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Cartoonist C. R. Macauley of Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World makes an observation, more than commentary — unless it is that President Roosevelt was prolix. But there is not even the implication that the cartoonist disagrees with the policies; only that it took the president too many words to explain them.

President Roosevelt holds onto a branch as he eyes a “third term” bear higher up on his branch.

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Theodore Roosevelt, the famous sportsman, pictured in a desperate situation one-on-one with a bear — the hunted, not the hunter. Seldom in a cartoon, or in life, mostly, was Roosevelt in such a situation as depicted by cartoonist C. R. Macauley.

President Roosevelt speeds ahead on a car labeled, “Roosevelt policy.”

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C. R. Macauley (later spelled MacAuley) was a political cartoonist for the New York World at this time, and the clipping in the White House scrapbook evidently misattributed the drawing to the Herald (another Democratic paper).

A variety of fingers point at Edward Henry Harriman with signs that read “improper multiplication of securities,” “stop crimes of cunning,” “evils in railroad management,” “punish every dishonest man,” “punish any criminal,” “predatory man of wealth,” “wherever evildoers can be, they shall be brought to justice,” “clever gamblers,” “any man who by clever swindling devices robs investors,” and “great railroad wrecker.”

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The background of this cartoon by C. R. Macauley is not what it might first seem to be — quotations of President Roosevelt’s long-running animosity and feuds with railroad titan Edward Henry Harriman. The vivid disagreements — a two-way street, to be sure — were familiar to the public, and came to a head in 1907 when Harriman leaked private letters from 1904 (letters, supplemented by others from Roosevelt’s files, that failed to attract support for his side of disputes).

President Roosevelt bangs the lectern as he addresses delegates that all look like himself from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and New York. A messenger dressed like Roosevelt brings him a message. On the wall is a flag that has four large “R’s” and two big sticks.

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This cartoon from early in C. R. Macauley’s association with the New York World humorously asserts President Roosevelt’s utter dominance of the Republican Party. As a president he was popular with the public, and he had been a famed celebrity, but control of the party and its apparatus, as suggested by Macauley, was another matter.

A woman, “Peace,” crowns President Roosevelt, who is already wearing an enormous “Nobel Peace Prize” and holding his big stick, with a laurel wreath. On the ground are three laurel wreaths beside a paper that reads, “Amicable adjustment of Japanese question.”

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C. R. Macauley, over his long cartooning career, was seldom complimentary toward Theodore Roosevelt. He drew this cartoon for the semi-official organ of the national Democrat Party, the New York World; in 1912 he was even the official, salaried cartoonist for the press office of the Democratic National Committee.

President Roosevelt takes a big stick labeled “Japanese question” and hits “San Francisco” with it. Caption: “Another earthquake.”

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Fortunately or unfortunately, the tragedy of the San Francisco earthquake provided cartoonists opportunities to employ the event as a reference-point for drawings that addressed other matters. But it is what cartoonists do — deal in the relatable; and after more than a century, the earthquake provides talking-points in politics and other fields.

President Roosevelt sits with a Nobel Peace Prize in his hand as gramophones shout the words, “Coal Famine,” “Car Shortage,” and “Negro Troop Ques” at him. There is a stick labeled “The Big Stick” across one of his legs and two typewriters with long papers labeled “Message” at the end.

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C. R. Macauley was the political cartoon for Joseph Pulitzer’s Morning World in New York City, for decades regarded as the semi-official organ of the national Democratic Party. Macauley himself, in fact, was hired to be the official cartoonist of the Democratic Party in 1912 (at the time is was a practice for political parties to supply cartoons to newspapers around the country, if, perhaps their budgets forbade their own hires.

President Roosevelt holds a chalkboard with two words written on it in cursive: “dropt” and “dropped.” “Dropt” is crossed off. He stands on the steps of a school building labeled “Congressional School.”

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Of the many extra-curricular campaigns and crusades of President Roosevelt — his eclectic interests did not abate during the White House years — were challenging writers of children’s books who imbued animals with human characteristics, the charm of ancient Irish sagas, and the reform of spelling.

President Roosevelt pushes Bellamy Storer out the door as they are surrounded by letters. On the desk is “the big stick” and a dove in a cage with the tag: “Nobel Peace Prize awarded to T. R.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-11

President Roosevelt puts a “substitute bill” in a suitcase as a “beef trust” hand sneaks a similar looking “Beveridge bill” suitcase into the room through a secret door. The “big stick” leans up against a desk.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-16

Rhode Island Senator Nelson W. Aldrich and Pennsylvania Senator Philander C. Knox sit on top of a “Senate” dome, trapping President Roosevelt underneath with an “Allison amendment” and “the big stick.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-14

President Roosevelt paints whitewash on “Dear Old Platt,” “Good Old Lou,” and “Bully Paul!”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-14

President Roosevelt uses “the big stick” with a “White House amendment to R.R. rates bill” tag to poke a “Senate” beehive. A number of bees swarm out and sting Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-05

Secretary of War William H. Taft and President Roosevelt, who wears a big stick, use an American flag to cover up “Jolo.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-16