Click on image to zoom in
New York City Mayor George B. McClellan and Police Commissioner William McAdoo are pictured washing the Tammany Tiger labeled “Corruption” and “Graft.” In the background, Tammany Hall boss Charles F. Murphy is posting a notice for the “Democratic Convention” on July 6 in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Comments and Context
In 1904, New York City had a new Democratic mayor, George B. McClellan, son of the Civil War general and 1864 Democratic presidential candidate against Abraham Lincoln; and a new “boss” of Tammany Hall, the city’s corrupt Democrat machine.
Both men were ambitious to make their marks, even on national politics, and they schemed to have McClellan nominated for president after only one year as mayor. The boom went nowhere, not the least because they had competition in their own delegation — publisher William Randolph Hearst, who in fact secured the second-highest total of ballots (against Judge Alton Brooks Parker, another New Yorker, but from upstate).
The third figure in this cartoon, William McAdoo, was the city’s police commissioner inn 1904 and 1905; not to be confused with the future Secretary of the Treasury and entrepreneur William Gibbs McAdoo.
The trio, preparing for the looming Democratic convention, are doing their best to “sanitize” their Tammany tiger, usually odious even to many Democrats. The wink of the icon (a tiger being the “mascot” of the Democrat organization that grew from a firehouse club) to the reader hints at the ultimate futility of the clean-up.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1904-05-04
Creator(s)
Period
U.S. President – 1st Term (September 1901-February 1905)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
His first bath. [May 4, 1904]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277815. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. His first bath. [4 May. 1904]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277815.
APA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1904, May 4]. His first bath.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o277815.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
