McBride, Edward Joseph, 1889-

In the first section of the cartoon, a man labeled “state legislatures” runs into a brick wall, “Supreme Court.” Caption: As it was. In the second section, “state legislatures” comes close to running into the big stick with President Roosevelt’s face on it.

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Edward Joseph McBride’s cartoon about the changing nature of the courts, relative to actions of state legislatures, was really so malleable, that it could have been a template for a generalized complaint about friction between the three branches of government. Such conflicts were present since the founding of the republic, and in fact were intentionally endemic to American democratic republicanism.

President Roosevelt holds his big stick and points at a large heart that includes his face, which gets progressively smaller for each line of text. Caption: “If of me you’d cease to think my heart would shrink and shr-r-rink and shr-r-r-r-ink.”

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Despite Theodore Roosevelt’s depiction in this cartoon in a more elaborate Rough Rider uniform than usual, and despite the imminence of his retirement and African safari, the drawing’s context is more mundane… and more obscure to readers more than a century later. The date of the cartoon — Valentine’s Day eve — is dispositive.

In the first vignette, President-elect William H. Taft walks into the “White House” and waves good bye to President Roosevelt who carries his big stick. In the second, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks walks away from the “Capitol” holding a jar of “buttermilk” and “to Indiana.” In the third, New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt sits at an “Express Co.” desk and writes “memoirs.” In the fourth, Colorado Senator Henry Moore Teller walks out of the Senate saying, “I’ve been there 30 years.” Caption: Senator Teller will take a rest. In the fifth, Secretary of State Elihu Root sits down in a chair labeled “New York Senatorship” and says, “I guess I’ll take it easy now!” In the sixth, Philander C. Knox climbs into a “State Dept” chair. In the seventh, Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker holds a “lawyer” piece of wood and walks “to Cincinnati.”

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A month before the change of administrations in Washington portended at least one change in St. Louis too: The Republic’s cartoonist Edward Joseph McBride drew a cartoon about national affairs that was not typically partisan or bitter.

President Roosevelt rides on a horse with a “Wild West show offer” in his pocket and shoots his gun between the “House” and “Senate.” He says, “I think I’ve got Buffalo Bill beaten to a frazzle!”

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A frequent target, so to speak, of political cartoonists in the waning days of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency was to speculate on the waxing days of his subsequent career or pursuits. Roosevelt was relatively young at fifty years of age, and his many accomplishments in a variety of fields provided cartoonists with fodder.

President Roosevelt holds Illinois Democratic Representative Henry Thomas Rainey over his knee as the president holds up a hot “liar” brand. Rainey holds a paper that reads, “Congressman Rainey’s speech on ‘job’ in the Panama railroad deal.” Roosevelt says, “Always room for one more!” In the background, another man has “liar” branded on his rear end and stands under an “Ananias Club” sign.

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What Joseph Pulitzer and his newspaper the New York World were in yellow journalism’s incessant innuendos about malfeasance related to the Panama Canal, Democratic Representative Henry Thomas Rainey of Illinois was in Congress.

President Roosevelt holds his big stick and rides toward “Congress,” who is awake in bed, on a rolled up paper of the “president’s final message–positively the last.” “Congress” says, “Gee, but I wish he’d go away!”

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The immediate context of Edward Joseph McBride’s cartoon was the harsh war of words — and messages, and insults, and press statements, and motions of censure — between President Roosevelt and the Congress at the time. The genesis, at the end of his Administration, grew from disagreements over the proposed expansion of the Secret Service into an agency that, separately and later, became the FBI.

President Roosevelt holds a book of “Jungle Stories” and watches two boys–“Japanese” and “Californians”–stick out their tongues at one another while sitting in a “California Legislature” bed with “anti-Japanese legislation” covers. Roosevelt says, “Stop it, I say, stop it!”

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At the end of President Roosevelt’s administration, anti-Japanese sentiment, never completely quieted, flared up in California. Two years earlier Roosevelt exerted enormous pressure and much time — diplomacy with the offended Japanese government and cajoling of California officials — to address the problems. Some Americans resented the pressure on jobs and the economy caused by Japanese labor; and nativist prejudice was involved as well. In some districts Japanese children were forbidden to enroll in public schools. In Japan there arose riots and protests against American residents.

President Roosevelt looks up words in the dictionary and reads, “polyglot,” “hay tedder,” and “gargoyle.” Roosevelt’s big stick is beside his chair, and Representative William F. Willett’s speech is on the ground.

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“Turn about” might have been foul play in President Roosevelt’s eyes after the New York City Congressman William F. Willett delivered an intemperate attack on the president from the floor. Members’ remarks so delivered are considered privileged — free from punitive action — however, even during the bitter Secret Service dispute, Willett’s language was so offensive that the House voted to censure him and expunge the speech from the Congressional Record, by a vote of 126 to 78.

President Roosevelt rides his horse at night, carrying his big stick. In the shadow of the moon, there is a body labeled “Constitution” hanged on a tree.

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President Roosevelt was occasionally criticized, not least by opponent cartoonists, for a casual reverence of the Constitution. There was an account of his desire, expressed in a conversation, that the man and his Constitutional views would be welcome in the cabinet. The man protested that Roosevelt had two of the nation’s greatest Constitutional authorities in the cabinet already in Secretary of State Elihu Root and Secretary of War William H. Taft. The president supposedly replied: “Yes, but they don’t always agree with me.”

President Roosevelt holds a “Secret Service” big stick and rides a bucking “Congress” horse that says, “You ain’t goin’ to whip me!” The “Senate” looks on and says, “My, how reckless!”

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The majority of headlines after the election of William H. Taft were devoted to the wrangle between the White House and Congress, and the many-factored fallout, over the expansion of the Secret Service. President Roosevelt was eager to quash yellow-press allegations of financial improprieties related to the Panama Canal; and the public was curious about Roosevelt’s plans for his Africa safari. Otherwise the issues swirling around the Secret Service disputes dominated the news.

President Roosevelt holds a “my patronage” snowball as a snowman labeled “Secy Loeb’s Cabinet Boom” holds Roosevelt’s big stick. The sun in the shape of President-elect William H. Taft’s face says, “Gee! But Teddy will be sore!”

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William Loeb, the son of German immigrants, practiced his trade as a stenographer and became interested in Republican politics in New York. He attracted the notice of Governor Theodore Roosevelt for his administrative talents and political acumen as much as his secretarial skills. Roosevelt hired him as a secretary, and Loeb followed in Roosevelt’s employ through the end of the Administration in 1909.

President Roosevelt sits on a rock holding his big stick and watches South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman marching toward him with a paper that reads, “Oregon land grab charge by T. R.”

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As the controversy over expansion of the Secret Service raged — or dragged — on, President Roosevelt defended himself from charges aimed by Congress and Congressmen in their self-defense, responding to charges the president made, or intimated, in his Annual Message five weeks prior to the publication this Edward Joseph McBride cartoon.

President Roosevelt walks out of a room with an “Ananias Club” door holding L. White Busbey in his right hand and Minnesota Representative James A. Tawney on top of his big stick in his left hand. Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon reads a “6000 word message to Congress” and is confused. Edward Henry Harriman and William Jennings Bryan watch from the door.

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The dispute over the Secret Service’s expanded duties was a controversy that subsumed other matters between President Roosevelt and Congress at the end of his administration; and technically it was the dispute itself, and not the Secret Service, that was the issue in Washington (and in political cartoons).

Ohio Senator Theodore E. Burton looks at Charles Phelps Taft who appears forlorn as President-Elect William H. Taft pulls at a string tied to Charles Taft’s coat. Charles Taft says, “I guess I’ll be goin’!” Beside Taft and Burton is a bubble with several men fighting in it and a sign that reads “Ohio Senatorial Field.” Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker runs away. Caption: What was expected.

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For years the state of Ohio was known as the Mother of Presidents (and vice presidents, and presidential candidates), rival only to Virginia, especially in the years between the Civil War and, roughly, World War I. The 1920 presidential contest featured the unusual circumstance of two Ohio newspaper owners running against each other.

A “Congress” dog grabs onto President Roosevelt’s coat and utters: “G-r-r-r–Secret–Service–Row–G-r-r.” Roosevelt attempts to hit the dog with a “Message” big stick.

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It is remarkable how much of his legislative agenda President Roosevelt achieved in his two terms. During his presidency there were major shifts in social and industrial conditions in America; new sets of challenges borne of economic expansion, unprecedented immigration, prosperity, and trade; business corruption, exposes by the Muckraking press, and political reform; the birth of the Regulatory State, a Wall Street Panic, and a growing tide of radicalism among voters and some elected officials.

Various men hold up resolutions. John D. Rockefeller holds a can of “Standard Oil” can and a paper that reads “Resolved that I’ll still do business in Missouri. John D.” President Roosevelt holds his big stick and a paper that reads “Resolved that I’ll abandon the Ananias Club.” President-elect William H. Taft reads a “my policies” pamphlet. Caption: Taft might forget Roosevelt. Herbert S. Hadley sits on top of a goblet with “the lid” and holds a paper that reads “Resolved that I will take off the lid. Hadley.” Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon smokes a “gag rule” cigar. Caption: Cannon must swear off using the same old brand. Andrew Carnegie holds a paper that reads, “Resolved that I’ll refuse to reveal any more secrets of the steel trust. Carnegie.” Arthur N. Sager holds a paper that reads, “Resolved that I’ll absolutely refuse to run for mayor.”

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Edward McBride’s cartoon in the reliably, and highly partisan Democrat, newspaper the St. Louis Republic features seven prominent figures referring to major news stories, disputes, and scandals. Rather than attacking the figures or seeking to persuade readers, the cartoon’s publication date reveals that it simply was a humorous treatment of New Year’s resolutions.

It then was common, and to an extent still is among political commentators and cartoonists to exploit holidays for their thematic preoccupations– in fact, sorts of holidays for themselves. The humorous New Year’s resolutions (or, sometimes, “the Millennium has come!”) presented an opportunity to show prominent figures doing things opposite of their normal pursuits.

President Roosevelt is strapped to a “condemnation” diving board across the “criticism” river. Roosevelt holds his big stick and says, “This is slanderous, villainous, scurrilous, vicious—-!!” Joseph Pulitzer and Edward Henry Harriman cheer as Harriman holds the “Ananias Club” flag. William MacKay Laffan is lying face up on the ground chuckling, “Ha-ha!” while Henry Melville Whitney says, “Let ‘er go!”

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Edward Joseph McBride was among several political cartoonists at the close of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency who seemed to find daily opposition a habit difficult to break. Cartoons like this one were not about specific issues, but virtually served as compendiums of complaints that had provided Democratic cartoonists with subjects for years.

President-elect William H. Taft holds a “cabinet appointment” pitcher in one hand and a “Sec’y of Interior” martini glass in the other. He offers the glass to Walter S. Dickey, who says, “It certainly was a hard old job swinging Missouri for you!” Charles Nagel looks on in horror and says, “Well——!.”

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St. Louis was very political, and still one of America’s largest metropolises; and Missouri was an influential state in political, manufacturing, and trade. Once a bastion of the Solid South — and a thorn in the side of President Abraham Lincoln for its changeable loyalties — it broke with electoral patterns and voted Republican in 1904, helping Theodore Roosevelt’s reelection.

President Roosevelt plays the “Brownsville Overture” on the “my policies” grand piano as he says, “Turn on the spotlight!” “Congress” holds up flowers while Uncle Sam plugs his ears. On the ground are several other pieces of music–“Panama Canal Polonaise,” “Secret Service Two-Step,” and “Annual Waltz.” A sign reads, “T. R. the Marvelous.”

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Very few observers likely believed that Theodore Roosevelt would disappear from the national stage — except for a year in “Darkest Africa” — after his retirement as president, set for approximately ten weeks after this cartoon’s publication. And it was not in Roosevelt’s personality to “just fade away.”

A “Congress” dog grabs onto President Roosevelt’s coat and utters: “G-r-r-r–Secret–Service–Row–G-r-r.” Roosevelt attempts to hit the dog with a “message” big stick.

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A dispute largely forgotten today captured headlines — and the attention of many political cartoonists — in the last months of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. It revolved around a brief passage in the Annual Message fewer than two weeks before this cartoon was published, and the gratuitous disparagement of Congress in which Roosevelt couched the reference. He sought, after previous rebuffs, Congressional authorization of an expanded role for the Secret Service. The frustrated president undiplomatically wondered whether Congressmen feared investigation into members’ affairs.