Chasing a scorcher

President Roosevelt rides with Uncle Sam in a car labeled “prosperity” that is leaving the “Hard Times Cop” on a bicycle in the dust. Beside the bicycle is a turtle labeled “Wall Street” that asks, “Do you think we’ll catch him?” The road is named “G.O.P. Pike.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Kirk L. Russell and the Washington Post, perhaps caught flat-footed by the Wall Street Panic (or perhaps expressing belief that the stock-market downturn would be short-lived), presented an endorsement of the Roosevelt Administration and confidence in the economy.

The well-executed cartoon uses the term “scorcher,” then in vogue to refer to automobile speedsters. The policeman is more helpless than a Keystone Kop, rides a primitive bicycle, or tries to. The partisan endorsement (more than, otherwise, a portrayal of headlines) is asserted by the fact that the scorcher is driven by Uncle Sam; Roosevelt is in the car too, the cop represents “hard times” and is left in the dust, and the whole scene takes place on the G.O.P. Highway.

Uncle Sam “got there, just the same,” as the Panic was solved and never became a serious economic Depression.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-02

Creator(s)

Russell, Kirk L, -1934

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