A nibble

President Roosevelt fishes at “third term pond” with some “policy bait” beside him.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The White House clipped and pasted into scrapbooks editorial opinions and political cartoons from around the country, and a fringe benefit for researchers is to see the evolution (or, sometimes, disappearance) of cartoonists, their styles, their capacity for clever concepts, their mastery of caricature.

Elmer C. Donnell was a cartoonist who by mid-1907 had developed a fair ability to caricature well, and he mastered shading techniques that combined for handsome compositions. Political cartoonists, however, are rightfully expected to offer trenchant views, whether partisan arguments or informational presentations of current events.

Donnell rather missed the mark in this cartoon, “A Nibble,” ironic at least because the speculation about a third term for President Roosevelt was on, off, hidden, postponed, threatened, hoped for, dreaded, or any combination thereof. Roosevelt’s real intentions, his private ambitions, the schemes of rivals, all matters were fodder (to the president’s frustration) for those who disbelieved his pledge not to stand again in 1908.

But the cartoon by Donnell; suggests, perhaps, that Roosevelt was “fishing” for support in the Third Term Pond, to indeed run again; and using his new policy statements as bait. Or, was he hoping that a candidate would emerge, snapping up his new policies? Roosevelt, however, had chosen Secretary of War William H. Taft as his favored successor; and he let Taft and party insiders — and many of the public who paid attention — know of that preference.

Donnell might have shown Roosevelt fishing in “presidential waters,” but it clearly is the Third Term Pond. In any event, the cartoonist, if not the worm, was “off the hook,” because as history knows Roosevelt stuck to his word, and he engineered the nomination of Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-10

Creator(s)

Donnell, Elmer C., 1877-1951

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