Trouble ahead for the trainer
Subject(s): Circus, Circus animals, Donkeys, Elephants, Hippopotamus, Indigenous peoples, International relations, Panama, Philippines, Republican elephant (Symbolic character)
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President Roosevelt, as a trainer in a circus, holds a whip and is getting tangled in ropes attached to a hippopotamus labeled “The Trusts,” an elephant labeled “G.O.P.”, a donkey labeled “Panama,” and two natives labeled “San Domingo” and “Philippines.”
Comments and Context
J. S. Pughe was Puck Magazine’s go-to animal cartoonist, and this week’s center-spread cartoon — one week into the new administration — enabled a flexing of his skills to set a scene in a circus’s center ring.
President Roosevelt indeed faced these challenges, and many more. History counts the tariff question, currency reform, growing calls for regulation in many segments of the economy, more foreign crises than pictured in the cartoon, rifts between reformers and conservatives, conservation of natural resources, building the Army and Navy, and — if we are to believe his tongue-in-cheek challenge — managing his daughter Alice!
Unlike many other presidents, and not reflected in his grim visage in the cartoon, Roosevelt relished these challenges, and always “loved a good fight.”
All foreign peoples in the new territories of the United States resembled black people to Pughe, who indeed was more adept at portraying animals. “San Domingo” surely was representative of all the new domains. The Philippines seemed to be a problem unto themselves, and at various times presented their distinctive challenges.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1905-03-08
Creator(s)
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
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:
Trouble ahead for the trainer. [March 8, 1905]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278082. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. Trouble ahead for the trainer. [8 Mar. 1905]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 5, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278082.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1905, March 8]. Trouble ahead for the trainer.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278082.
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 5, 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.
