Why not settle it socially at Oyster Bay?

Vignette cartoon with a central image showing President Roosevelt sitting with Russian, Japanese, and possibly Chinese figures at his summer retreat at Oyster Bay; his personal secretary, William Loeb, is serving drinks. The vignette scenes suggest that the Russo-Japanese war, and the control of Manchuria and Vladivostok, be decided by competitions between the Russian leaders and those of Japan and China, such as a swimming race, a wood-chopping contest, a tennis match, and a contest of telling the tallest fish story.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Puck cartoonists L. M. Glackens and S. D. Ehrhart joined forces to draw the magazine’s semi-regular centerspread genre cartoon commenting on current events, this page on the upcoming negotiations to end the Russo-Japanese War. There was one month to go before commencement of talks. Approximately two months after this cartoon’s publication, a Treaty of Peace was signed.

The cartoonists had innocent fun, suggesting feats of strength and skill to settle the conflict, dismissing the bloody and exhaustive carnage in the Far East, and ignoring what was at stake with the United States — President Roosevelt’s personal prestige, and America’s potential role as a world power.

Every stereotype, seemingly, is deployed in this cartoon, with careful drawn subtleties: Roosevelt wearing a Japanese kimono and a Russian ushanka on his head; beards and caftans on every figure; etc. Neither the negotiators nor the public — nor Roosevelt himself — could have known how difficult the negotiations would be.

An ancient empire in state of collapse, and an ancient society assuming its place, and maybe more, in the world, were two proud nations. They nearly had bankrupted themselves in this conflict begun over a host of issues, sustaining as many as two hundred thousand casualties in the process. Their appeals for mediation were vague to the public, and earnest through back channels.

Roosevelt employed uncommon diplomatic skills, perhaps as responsible as the treaty itself for his award of the Nobel Peace Prize. For instance, the delegations first were received at Sagamore Hill. He met the land-mines of diplomatic affronts in clever ways. Which delegation would enter the dining room first? Roosevelt trumped this delicate point by conversing earnestly with the chief representative on either side of him as three entered the dining room… and precedence was obviated. Which country would have seats of honor at the meal? Roosevelt arranged to have round tables.

After he met the delegations they were dispatched to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the remote location chosen to escape the stifling August heat in Washington, D.C., and for relative privacy. Each day the negotiations actually were conducted at the American naval base across the state line in Kittery, Maine.

The President kept in touch with the demands, deadlocks, and threats (the Russians once made a show of packing their bags to quit the conference, a bluff). He was exasperated at the recalcitrance of both sides, and recalled the personality conflicts when he negotiated a settlement of the Anthracite Coal Strike in 1902.  At one point, to relieve his tension, he plunged beneath the waters of Long Island Sound in a renovated submarine, the 64-foot-long Plunger. He was under water for almost three hours, inspecting, inquiring, and even taking the controls at one point. He was refreshed, and his wife Edith, watching from Sagamore Hill, was relieved. The press variously praised the President’s bravery and scolded his foolhardiness.

Work on the treaty continued and was concluded and signed in early September, a labyrinth of comprises, concessions, and savings of face. Japan was impartially considered to have gained the most — but had ceased hostilities in a stronger position. In Tokyo, there were riots over perceived slights; and the government fell.

Roosevelt was praised around the world, and received the Nobel Prize. And the United States made a quantum leap to the forefront of the world’s consequential powers.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-07-05

Creator(s)

Ehrhart, S. D. (Samuel D.), approximately 1862-1937

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

Cartoon

Rights

These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.

Citation