Maybell, Claude, 1872-

A “third term” bear chases President Roosevelt into the “national convention 1908” canyon.

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Comments and Context

Cartoonists of the day, when pairing Theodore Roosevelt and bears, usually depicted bears as getting the worst of encounters; or, perhaps, shown as cuddly prototypical teddy bears of the stuffed variety. But Claude Maybell of the Democratic Brooklyn Eagle, routinely a cartoonist of mundane concepts, here broke molds of the craft and his own limitations.

President Roosevelt holds a diabolo labeled, “Roosevelt Administration,” and the two cups labeled, “personal popularity with the people.” Caption: Still keeping it up.

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Comments and Context

The toy that President Theodore Roosevelt plays with was called, as the title indicates, the “diabolo.” It was also called a “Chinese yo-yo,” because it evidently originated in China centuries ago; but beyond a spinning object and a string has no common antecedents with the yo-yo.

A group of bears march toward President Roosevelt holding a rifle on his right shoulder in the canebrakes. The bear in the front holds a sign, “We want federal regulation of bear hunters.”

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Comments and Context

President Roosevelt’s two-week hunting trip after black bear in the Louisiana canebrakes in October of 1907 inspired many cartoonists to explore the obvious themes presented by the inveterate hunter engaging in a Golden Fleece, if not a hide, since he failed to bag more than a legend (the teddy bear) in the region several years earlier.

President Roosevelt holds a rifle and looks at a “notice” that reads, “Bears Immunity Bath–Don’t Shoot Mr. President,” as he watches several bears dive into the water.

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Comments and Context

Cartoonist Claude Maybell of the Brooklyn Eagle combines the contemporary themes of President Roosevelt’s black-bear hunt in the Louisiana canebrakes and another string of current events — not a putative third term, as some cartoonists seized upon as a theme; not the “Nature Fakir” controversy then attracting attention.

President Roosevelt sits on a table with a “third term” glass in his hand and the “1908 Republication National Convention” pitcher on the table. On his left shoulder is “the Roosevelt policies” rifle, and he has his left hand on “the pledge.” Caption: Will he play Rip Van Winkle?

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Comments and Context

Claude Maybelle’s cartoon in the Brooklyn Eagle was an earnest condemnatory comment on Theodore Roosevelt, and a curious jumble of icons and allusions. Hardly a cartoonist or editorial writer of Roosevelt’s full presidential term, 1905-1908, failed to address his declination of interest in succeeding himself in the White House. He had announced such on election night of 1904, declined any elaboration beyond asserting his firmness, and in fact engineered the nomination of his favored choice, Secretary of War William H. Taft, against other aspirants.

President Roosevelt balances “the common people” and “the uncommon people” while standing on a “radical-conservatism” platform.

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Comments and Context

The political cartoonist most associated with the Brooklyn Eagle was their longtime, and widely reprinted, Nelson Harding. Harding’s drawings were rudimentary, but his concepts were unfailingly clever. His immediate predecessor was Claude Maybell, generally undistinguished in either category, but this cartoon is a picture-perfect presentation of Theodore Roosevelt’s gift and practice of arriving at policies.

President Roosevelt falls asleep at Oyster Bay, New York, with the book, “Nature and Nature Fakers,” beside him. More than 20 sea gulls look at him. Caption: Dr. John B. Watson of Chicago University says he has discovered that sea gulls have a language. — News Item.

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Comments and Context

The pedestrian cartoonist Claude Maybell combined a news headline about a professor’s theory that sea gulls communicate in some fashion, President Roosevelt’s current involvement in the controversy over writers assigning human personality attributions to wildlife, and the president’s long summer vacation at Oyster Bay.

President Roosevelt and Japanese Emperor Meiji play tennis on the lawn of Oyster Bay as “international umpires” look on. Caption: Why not settle international disputes by peaceful personal combats between the heads of nations — let the president challenge the Mikado.

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Addressing matters of war and peace by other means is a conceit that goes back to The Birds by Aristophanes in ancient Greece. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle‘s cartoonist Claude Maybell took that concept, President Roosevelt’s well-known affection for the game of tennis, and the recent diplomatic contacts with Japan, and fashioned a cartoon. The president recently was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his role in settling the war between Japan and Russia; and Roosevelt had personally intervened, with much deference shown the Japanese, over prejudice against Japanese immigrants on the West Coast.

President Roosevelt takes a shortcut to get in front of “the people” lead by Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette and William Jennings Bryan down the road pointed toward “radicalism.” Caption: A short cut to leadership.

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Comments and Context

Cartoonist Claude Maybell’s meaning in this cartoon for the Brooklyn Eagle was as challenging as his composition and caricatures. The figures on the pathway are the reliably radical William Jennings Bryan of the Democratic Party, and Senator Robert M. LaFollette, Republican of Wisconsin. The latter was a newcomer to Washington and national politics but was already making his mark as an insurgent — proponent of radical prescriptions: a proto-progressive.

President Roosevelt chases the “American Society of Nature Fakers” into the woods with a large “federal regulation” big stick. There are books and papers in the foreground, including “The Call of the Riled by Jack Onion” and a crowd of people watching in the background.

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Comments and Context

At first glance this cartoon might seem to be an allegory, one of many that addressed President Roosevelt using the Big Stick to bring malefactors in the business world to justice. Instead it is a straightforward depiction of one of several non-political causes taken up by the peripatetic president at this time.

President Roosevelt watches as a cow labeled “the public” tries to reach the “third term” haystack but is unable to do so because “Roosevelt’s no third term declaration” fence stands in front of it. In the background is a “Taft boom” haystack. The subtitle asks, “Will the farmer remove the fence?”

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Comments and Context

Cartoonist Claude Maybell of the Brooklyn Eagle, once a major newspaper in New York City, accurately depicted the political situation in the Republican Party as the 1908 presidential contest loomed.

President Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan walk from their own horse to the other’s horse. Roosevelt holds a paper that says “Roosevelt’s tax on fortunes” and walks onto the “radicalism” horse while Bryan holds a paper that says “Bryan’s opposition to socialism” and walks onto the “conservatism” horse.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-18

President Roosevelt twists a “Roosevelt policies” rope that “the Senate” donkey is eating. Caption: Ocnus, in the fable, was always twisting a rope of hay with unwearied diligence, and a donkey at the other end perpetually eating it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-13

President Roosevelt uses a “diplomacy” knife to cut another notch into the “big stick.” The old notch was “peace of Portsmouth.” The new notch is “peace of Algeciras.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-02

President Roosevelt camps outside of the “White House,” which is full of gifts. He reads a book entitled “The Simple Life,” as he cooks food over a fire.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02

A number of men are in a “railroad rate bill” train car, including President Roosevelt, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman, West Virginia Senator Stephen B. Elkins, Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Iowa Senator Jonathan P. Dolliver, Pennsylvania Senator Philander C. Knox, Texas Senator Joseph W. Bailey, Rhode Island Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, and Wisconsin Senator John C. Spooner. Some of them hold “amendment” cards. Caption: Engineer Roosevelt—”Who’s running this train, anyhow?”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-24

President Roosevelt drives a “railroad reform” car with William Loeb and a “railroad rate regulation bill” in it across a “Congress” bridge toward a “railroad opposition” car.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-05

President Roosevelt leans over a fence labeled “Southern States” with a stick labeled “Appointments of Post-Masters and Collectors” to poke a sleeping dog labeled “Race Problem.” Item is regarding race relations in the American South and the appointment of persons of color to government posts.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-01-09

President Roosevelt is shown banging a gong labeled Coal Strike with a hammer labeled Settlement of Arbitration. A reporter looks startled in the building labeled Political Theater.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-10-14

President Roosevelt runs away as an overloaded boat full of misery, representing his peace conference between coal miners and operators, breaks apart. Caption: What is the next step to avert the calamity?

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-10-04