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Starrett, William K. (William Kemp), 1880-1952

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Both–“I said it first!”

Two birds who are drawn as President Roosevelt, holding a “big stick,” and William Jennings Bryan stand on a “platform.”

Comments and Context

At the time of this cartoon’s publication, the Brooklyn Eagle had two political cartoonists, William K. Starrett and Nelson Harding. The former withdrew in favor of Harding, and drew for several papers in New York State and Philadelphia before entering the comic-strip field; Harding remained for two decades with the Eagle, winning two Pulitzer Prizes before leaving for Hearst’s New York Journal.

Trying to get into the game

President Roosevelt addresses William Randolph Hearst as William Jennings Bryan looks at their marbles game, which includes marbles labeled “tariff revision,” “regulation of R.R.,” “popular election of Sen.,” “popular election of judges,” “ship subsidy,” and “public ownership.”

Comments and Context

It is wholly inadequate to identify William Randolph Hearst by first invoking the motion picture Citizen Kane, yet for many people since his death in 1951, that character provides the touchstone, and it is a gross caricature. Hearst’s father George was a prospector who made a fortune from silver claims and other mineral and land opportunities in the West. He rose to attain a vast fortune and secured a seat in the United States Senate. When his son, “Willie,” was expelled from Harvard, George gifted him with the San Francisco Examiner, hoping that a newspaper career would keep him busy, and maybe out of mischief.

“Another kind of larceny”

President Roosevelt cries “Hey!” from a pool of water as William Jennings Bryan runs off with “my policies” and his “big stick.”

Comments and Context

William K. Starrett’s cartoon, one of his last for the Brooklyn Eagle, contains nuances that are informed by events of the day and weeks. President Roosevelt had been growing more radical in his policies and prescriptions toward the end of his presidency. Many commentators noted that he had adopted some views of the Democrats and even Populists he once decried. William Jennings Bryan, Democratic leader of Populist origins, observed this himself. So a cartoon of Bryan “stealing” Roosevelt’s clothes and props was the cartoonist’s ironic juxtaposition.

Ready for the race!

President Roosevelt–“the ‘rider’–sits atop a horse depicting New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes while New York Representative Herbert Parsons holds a riding crop and says, “Get up there! Hurry!” The words “nomination track” are on the ground.

Comments and Context

Later in William K. Starrett’s long career as a cartoonist he proved to be a clever conceptualist and an accomplished artist, even if much of work was supposed to replicate the familiar work of others. This cartoon from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle clearly is from earlier in his career, when ideas and draftsmanship were yet undeveloped.

Relief

President Roosevelt and Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou hold a “U.S. Treasury” pipe that is sending bonds and notes swirling around to large crowds of people.

Comments and Context

William K. Starrett’s cartoon properly depicts the role of Treasury Secretary George B. Cortelyou in creatively addressing the crisis precipitated by the Panic of 1907 then sweeping Wall Street (and, in fact, money markets across the world). He and President Roosevelt approved the deposit of 25-million dollars into various banks; and that act is pictured by Starrett.

Riding the goat

President Roosevelt watches from Washington, D.C., as a man labeled “Oklahoma” rides the “statehood” goat. An American eagle cries, “Hold fast!” On the ground are papers: “laws” and “Constitution.” Caption: Not quite, but almost.

Comments and Context

This cartoon, published in Brooklyn, New York, correctly captured the turbulence attending the faraway territory and state of Oklahoma; President Roosevelt signed the proclamation of statehood roughly two weeks after William K. Starrett’s cartoon, on November 16, 1907.