Launched under fire

William H. Taft sits on a raft by the presumably safe “White House Landing” on a waterway where “Fort Dick” and “Fort Foraker” fire cannon balls on him from the shores.

Comments and Context

There were few inter-party conflicts on the 1907 political landscape more contentious than the intra-party tensions within Ohio’s Republican Party. Many squabbles were fomented and advanced by the personality and ambitions of Senator Joseph Benson Foraker. A longtime fixture in state and national politics, his disagreements with Theodore Roosevelt commenced when the latter was the corruption-fighting Commissioner of Civil Service in the 1880s; and were rife as ever in 1907, most recently over the Senator’s condemnation of the President’s actions in the Brownsville Affair, the dismissal of black troops after a melee outside a saloon that resulted in a murder and a shooting injury.

Foraker had traditional adherents — and those of recent vintage, like the newly appointed Ohio senator Charles Dick — generally from northern Ohio. In 1907 his party rivals included those centered around Cincinnati, including Secretary of War William H. Taft and Representative Nicholas Longworth (Roosevelt’s son-in-law).

Of particular volatility in 1907 was the fact that Taft and Foraker were both presidential aspirants. The rivalry between the two men, and their camps, extended to securing support of other politicians, vying for presidential appointments, and editorial endorsements. The president made his support of Taft as his successor early and emphatically.

Cartoonist Kirk L. Russell hit his target in this depiction of the situation. If Taft is portrayed as nervous, it is because he never fully was comfortable as a retail politician; and indeed the “safe haven” of White House support did little to decrease the attacks from Foraker and Dick.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-16

Creator(s)

Russell, Kirk L., 1873-1934

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