He used to be “A Menace” – now he finds himself a fad
Subject(s): Fads, Socialists
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A “Foreign Socialist” is being fêted and toasted by high society. An inset at left shows a jail cell full of the types of anarchists who are now being welcomed to America.
Comments and Context
Time marches on; a theory of evolution is illustrated in this J. S. Pughe cartoon about socialism and socialists in America. Only months earlier Puck commented on socialism as an intellectual plaything of society, and in this cartoon Pughe takes “parlor socialism” a step further.
This cartoon had its inspiration, or antecedence, in a Puck double-page from twenty years earlier. In that Charles Jay Taylor cartoon, an inset showed immigrants from Germany and Russia at Ellis Island: huddled, shy, nervous, poor, hoping for work in the promised land of America. The major part of that cartoon showed them after some time in America, still ragged and poor, but enlivened, bold, shouting, and drunk in a beer hall, agitating for socialism, against the system.
Pughe combined those two threads and shows a socialist, still ragged and unkempt, now an object of abstract interest, even affection, by society. As American socialism was becoming more radical and determined around this time, it was ironic that it was coddled by some of the people it regarded as enemies.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1906-05-09
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:
He used to be “A Menace” – now he finds himself a fad. [May 9, 1906]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278536. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909. He used to be “A Menace” – now he finds himself a fad. [9 May. 1906]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278536.
APA:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909., [1906, May 9]. He used to be “A Menace” – now he finds himself a fad.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278536.
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.
