The martyr
Subject(s): Martyrs, Moody, William H. (William Henry), 1853-1917, Presidents--Term of office, Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
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Theodore Roosevelt, with halo, kneels on a burning pyre and is tied to a stake labeled “III Term” by tapes labeled “Popularity / Party / Pressure.” A crowd of on-lookers cheers in the background. Caption: “I can conceive of a situation that would compel Mr. Roosevelt, no matter how painful it might be, to accept a third term.”–Attorney-General Moody.
Comments and Context
There have been many martyrs and saints burned at the stake through history. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs documents many; there was the famous torching of Joan of Arc, and during the Reformation, Counter-Reformation, and subsequent periods of religious accountability, opposing factions burned people with regularity.
The figure of Theodore Roosevelt in the cover cartoon of Udo J. Keppler, therefore, is not meant to represent the sentence of any particular saint (or sinner), although allegorical models were plentiful.
The dispositive motif of the cartoon is the statement of Attorney General William H. Moody — normally not a political figure in the administration — who made a comment implying that the president might be obliged to break his pledge not to be a candidate for reelection in 1908. Whatever its motivation, and if Moody was quoted correctly, the matter was subsumed a few weeks later by President Roosevelt’s nomination of Moody to be a Supreme Court justice.
Moody’s college years at Harvard overlapped Roosevelt’s and he first entered his Cabinet as Secretary of the Navy, where he instituted many bureaucratic reforms and establish naval bases at Guantanamo and the Philippines’ Subic Bay. As Philander C. Knox’s successor as Attorney General he vigorously pursued anti-trust cases, including against the beef trust and Standard Oil. He was unique attorney general who preferred to appear on behalf of the government (that is, instead of the solicitor general) before the Supreme Court. Shortly after this cartoon appeared, he became a sitting justice.
The binds holding the anguished president, by the way — Popularity, Party, and Pressure — were ironic fetters. It was — and still is — assumed that Roosevelt could easily have secured a third term but for his self-abnegation on election night, 1904.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1906-11-21
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:
The martyr. [November 21, 1906]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o284159. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956. The martyr. [21 Nov. 1906]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 12, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o284159.
APA:
Keppler, Udo J., 1872-1956., [1906, November 21]. The martyr.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o284159.
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.
