Will this boulder keep Taft out of the White House?

William H. Taft attempts to push a rock labeled “Ohio” with Senators Charles Dick and Joseph Benson Foraker sitting on top of it through the White House gates as he sweats profusely. President Roosevelt looks on with a bomb labeled “popular policies” in his right hand. Caption: The president– “Don’t work so hard, Bill! We can blow it up with this stuff in my hand.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Republicans dominated Ohio politics for decades after the Civil War. In fact, the state, like Virginia, traditionally supplied many presidents and prominent, powerful politicians; in 1920 the two major party presidential candidates were Ohio newspaper editors, Harding and Cox. The Republican Party at one point was so powerful, with numerous talented leaders, that its factions were as persuasive and contentious as were Democrats and Republicans in other states.

At the turn of the century this situation was pronounced, as Joseph Benson Foraker of (generally speaking) the northern Ohio factions, gathered his supporters and contended against President Roosevelt on various issues — as thorns in the side, for they were still of the same party — and sought endorsements for a presidential run.

In the Cincinnati area, however (bordering Kentucky) were powerful figures who rallied around, as best they could, the figure of Secretary of War William H. Taft, a presidential prospect himself, and who enjoyed the support of President Roosevelt in that endeavor.

The largely forgotten but routinely clever political cartoonist W. A. Carson of the Utica (New York) Saturday Globe assessed the imminent 1908 nomination battle, and the particular of the Buckeye rivalry and Roosevelt’s influence, in this front-page cartoon which originally ran in colors.

Taft would appear to have enough of a challenge without the little figures of Foraker and Charles Dick, Ohio’s other senator who filled the term of the late senator, Marcus Alonzo Hanna. The explosive held by Roosevelt, his “popular policies,” legitimately implied that Taft would continue their implementation, which he did when nominated, at least as campaign promises.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-20

Creator(s)

Carson, W. A. (William A.), 1862-

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