The American Ben-Hur

President Roosevelt is depicted as Ben-Hur and drives a chariot of four horses: “public honesty,” “square deal,” “publicity,” and “centralization.” He leads the chariot race. Behind him are “swollen fortune” and a “reactionary.” On the ground are an “undesirable citizen” and a “molly-coddle.” In the stands are Miss Columbia, William Loeb, Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, Pennsylvania Senator Philander C. Knox, Secretary of War William H. Taft, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes, and Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou.

comments and context

Comments and Context

In a regrettably typical cartooning overreach, the Washington Herald‘s Joseph Harry Cunningham transforms a popular image in the public’s consciousness into a putative grand statement on the current political situation. Beyond the idea that President Roosevelt was engaged in racing ahead with several policy agendas, pursued by opponents of those programs, there was little that was prescient, or that would bring a new insight to readers.

In the galleries of Rome’s Circus Maximus — today an extended and bucolic grassy field — is a totally illogical collection of random contemporaries. In the cartoonist’s attempt at realism, his horses all have stubby legs that would have led to a disaster on the track. Cunningham gave credit, or apologies, to the painter Alexander von Wagner. It was he who painted this subject in 1882, two years after General Lew Wallace’s best-selling novel was published. For decades the canvas was lost, but lived in public consciousness by the chromolithographed cover art of sheet music, “The Chariot Race, or the Ben-Hur March.” It was performed by John Phillip Sousa’s military band to great acclaim; and Paull’s music was known for detailed colored artwork fancier than most music of the day. It was the image on that song sheet, a variant but more popular than von Wagner’s canvas, that seemed to inspire Cunningham.

The shield on the viewing stands, in the shape of a coin and bearing the motto “In God We Trust,” was a reference to a current controversy. The president had ordered that the motto not appear on new coins — of which the Augustus Saint-Gaudens designs have become regarded as some of history’s finest — and it immediately was a matter of controversy. The Roosevelt order was not anti-religious, as some charged, but instead a declaration against blasphemy. As money was common, and often used for such activities as gambling, and (specifically) remembering his ranching days when men would make coarse jokes using the motto, the president intended to honor, not disrespect, the Deity. A resolution of Congress overturned his edict as swiftly as it had his Simplified Spelling order the previous year.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-18

Creator(s)

Cunningham, Joseph Harry, 1865-1946

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