Marse Theodore

President Roosevelt, as a southern plantation owner, rides on a donkey, holding an umbrella, a jug of “Corn Lickker” behind him. William Loeb walks behind, holding the donkey’s tail. In the background, perched on a tree, is a bird labeled “Vardaman.” Caption: “Way down South in the land of cotton.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

In the middle of October 1905, President Roosevelt undertook a tour of Southern states. He clearly hoped to ameliorate White southern opposition to his presidency, feelings that largely emanated from his White House invitation to Booker T. Washington in his first days as president.

The tour, and Roosevelt’s desire to mend fences, were not all cosmetic. He frequently professed a pride in his Southern heritage — his mother Martha (“Mittie”) was a Southern belle from a plantation at Roswell, Georgia, reportedly the model for Tara in Gone With the Wind, and he was proud of his two uncles, important figures in the Confederate Navy, who had emigrated to England after the war.

The White South generally embraced the president on this trip, with some newspapers wishing he would switch parties to Democrat. The president praised descendants, and paid homage to, Confederates of the late war. As would be expected, many prominent Southern blacks were disappointed with this president who had defended them on many occasions in many controversies. Roosevelt did, however deliver an address at the Tuskegee Institute and was supported by Booker T. Washington. Less than a month later, Washington was invited to the White House.

In Keppler’s cover cartoon, the subtle iconography informs the context: Roosevelt as a plantation owner in hyperbolic caricature, the donkey as a probable reminder that Southerners were happy with his newly stated attitudes (popular Southern author Thomas Nelson Page stated that Roosevelt seemed “more Democrat than Republican”), and William Loeb, his private secretary and amanuensis as a stereotypical African-American caricature.

The angry blackbird (ironically) in the tree represents James K. Vardaman, governor of Mississippi, who certainly did not meet with the visiting president. Happy to be called “The Great White Knight,” Vardaman (later a Senator from Mississippi) was one of the most spectacular racists in American history. A frank advocate of disenfranchising Black people and even denying them public education, he frequently encouraged lynching and referred to Roosevelt as a “little, mean, coon-flavored miscegenationist.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-10-18

Creator(s)

Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956

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