The hunter hunted

President Roosevelt fires a gun with smoke coming out labeled “Cincinnati Federal Appointment” at Joseph Benson Foraker, who holds a knife labeled “Brownsville.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The “Brownsville Incident” — a bartender shot dead and a policeman wounded in a nighttime melee near an Army barracks housing black soldiers in Texas — had occurred in August of 1906. It lingered as a scandal because President Roosevelt, asking any of the one hundred sixty-seven soldiers to provide any information about the evening’s activities, studied the available facts and dishonorably discharged the entire regiment.

Senator Joseph Benson Foraker of Ohio at first agreed with the president, then defended the soldiers. His own career was variable in criticism and support of blacks, most recently their friend. His opponents, including Republicans from his own state, attributed his alliances to fueling his presidential ambitions and delegate-hunting.

A week before J. H. Donahey’s clever cartoon, Roosevelt and Foraker sparred at the roast-flavored and supposedly private Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, and the recriminations flew over Brownsville. Foraker already counted many enemies (or variable friends) within his state’s Republican ranks, including William McKinley, John Sherman, Marcus Alonzo Hanna, and William H. Taft. These men were longtime allies of Roosevelt, so retaliation against Foraker was easy — the president withdrew all patronage perquisites from Foraker (hence this cartoon’s Cincinnati reference) and worked to thwart Foraker’s presidential aspirations.

The United States Senate took the unprecedented move of investigating the Brownsville Affair, and voted approval of Roosevelt’s actions. Senator Foraker took the unprecedented move of forming his own, separate, investigating committee, and it endorsed the president’s action, nine to four.

Donahey’s cartoon was a clever depiction of the tit-for-tat between Foraker and Roosevelt at that moment.

It is interesting to note — attested by the mailing label on the newspaper clipping, cut from the Plain Dealer‘s front page — that this very cartoon, in fact this very newspaper clipping — was delivered to the White House. It is reproduced from its running scrapbook.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-02-01

Creator(s)

Donahey, J. H. (James Harrison), 1875-1949

Language

English

Period

U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)

Page Count

1

Production Method

Printed

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