Look out for the big stick
Subject(s): Comets, Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
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President Roosevelt stands at the ready with his big stick as a new comet heads for the earth. Caption: The new comet had better not get too near this strenuous earth of ours.
Comments and Context
When scientists and astronomers forecast the arrival, in three years, of Halley’s Comet to earth’s night skies, cartoonist Ryan Walker took the occasion to pay humorous homage to the mighty Roosevelt, astride the earth, like a Greek god of old, strenuously aiming to bat it away.
The well-drawn and well-meaning cartoon represented a stage in Walker’s career between producing pedestrian gag cartoons and humorous commentary for the Kansas City Times, the St. Louis Republic, the Boston Globe, and the magazines Life and Judge; and radical journals like Appeal to Reason and The Coming Nation (both magazines published in Girard, Kansas) and the New York Call.
This cartoon, clipped by the White House from the Detroit Free Press, likely was a syndicated panel from the International Syndicate of Baltimore.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1907-05-07
Creator(s)
Language
English
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
Repository
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Page Count
1
Production Method
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
Look out for the big stick. [May 7, 1907]. Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301526. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Walker, Ryan. Look out for the big stick. [7 May. 1907]. Image.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 19, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301526.
APA:
Walker, Ryan., [1907, May 7]. Look out for the big stick.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301526.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 19, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division.
APA:
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-manuscript-division.
