The Siamese twins
Subject(s): Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925, Conjoined twins, Presidents--Election, Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
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President Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan are attached together by “our policies.” Bryan holds the “big stick.”
Comments and Context
W. A. Rogers, one of the nation’s leading cartoonists of his day, drew “The Siamese Twins” for the New York Herald in late November 1907, anticipating the next year’s presidential contest. Rogers had drawn for Harper’s Weekly, Puck, Harper’s Weekly again, and then the Herald, where many of his cartoons, particularly about Theodore Roosevelt, found their way into history texts.
The Herald was a Democratic paper, and this cartoon was meant to represent its policy of mildly disapproving of President Roosevelt and robustly disapproving of its perennial Democratic standard-bearer, the former Populist William Jennings Bryan.
In the 1907 it was still uncertain to many people that Roosevelt’s resolution not to seek the 1908 presidential nomination would hold. And the congenital aspirant Bryan might be denied the Democratic nomination in 1908 as he was in 1904. But Rogers closed his eyes and aimed blindly in the direction of the two presumptive front-runners.
This cartoon in effect damns Bryan with faint praise, and praises Roosevelt with faint damns — suggesting that that were connected. In a way, such was the truth, as each leader had a set of policies by which party loyalty was demanded and judged; also, Roosevelt’s positions had shifted toward radical analyses of political, social, and industrial problems — closer to Bryan’s old views, in the view of many observers.
When Rogers added the observation that Bryan had a Big Stick of his own, advancing policies and enforcing party loyalty, and Rogers unveiled, in the spotlight, his own Barnum act, the political Siamese Twins. (Chang and Eng were the Siamese twins who toured with Barnum’s sideshow Museum.)
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1907-11-22
Creator(s)
Rogers, W. A. (William Allen), 1854-1931
Language
English
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
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:
The Siamese twins. [November 22, 1907]. Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301659. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Rogers, W. A. (William Allen), 1854-1931. The Siamese twins. [22 Nov. 1907]. Image.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. March 26, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301659.
APA:
Rogers, W. A. (William Allen), 1854-1931., [1907, November 22]. The Siamese twins.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o301659.
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. March 26, 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.
