Policy chills
Subject(s): Fear, Insurance, Insurance, Life, Insurance, Life--Plans, Life insurance
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A nervous man clutches a “Life Insurance Policy.” Caption: The latest epidemic.
Comments and Context
During the Muckraking Era there was a nexus of public skepticism, distaste, and opposition to large business operations and consolidations (trusts) and the negative publicity dealt to robber barons and corporate giants. Big business generally, and the super-rich, were under scrutiny. Reform was in the air.
Between a desire for justice and a fear that demands for reform could lead to revolution, PresidentRoosevelt led a movement to have the federal government referee big-business practices to maintain a “square deal” for consumers and citizens. He proposed legislation and designed regulatory commissions to fix wrongs. And he masterfully maneuvered public relations, keeping contact with writers, cartoonists, and lawmakers to sell his policies.
Although the magazine series and book Frenzied Finance by Thomas W. Lawson primarily dealt with the mining industry (copper, silver, etc.) the former, and not wholly repentant, trust manager did mention other parts of big business. The insurance industry — relatively new and concentrated, basically, in three companies, widely was seen as corrupt and unresponsive to policyholders’ concerns.
Adding to the dismay and nervousness of cartoonist Grant Hamilton’s generic policyholder was the contemporaneous scandal involving James Hazen Hyde, heir to the Equitable Life Insurance fortune (it was the largest insurer, followed by Metropolitan and New York Life). Hyde, still in his 20s, had thrown a gaudy party for the upper crust of society — perceived as a virtual orgy, certainly an orgy of excess, extravagance, and waste. The public reacted with disgust; newspapers both Yellow and respectable attacked it; and Hyde lost his place on the company’s board, retreating to Europe almost in exile for decades.
All these factors made many insured people nervous indeed.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1905-05-10
Creator(s)
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:
Policy chills. [May 10, 1905]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278100. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Hamilton, Grant E.. Policy chills. [10 May. 1905]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. April 2, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278100.
APA:
Hamilton, Grant E.., [1905, May 10]. Policy chills.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278100.
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. April 2, 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.
