Ready for the race!

President Roosevelt–“the ‘rider’–sits atop a horse depicting New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes while New York Representative Herbert Parsons holds a riding crop and says, “Get up there! Hurry!” The words “nomination track” are on the ground.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Later in William K. Starrett’s long career as a cartoonist he proved to be a clever conceptualist and an accomplished artist, even if much of work was supposed to replicate the familiar work of others. This cartoon from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle clearly is from earlier in his career, when ideas and draftsmanship were yet undeveloped.

He depicts President Roosevelt astride the horse symbolizing New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes. The date if the cartoon is important: it would have made more sense if it were published after Hughes failed to capture the presidential nomination. Later in 1908 it was the gubernatorial reelection that concerned Hughes, who was renominated and reelected as governor, and for that race Roosevelt saddled up. The president endorsed the incumbent Republican governor, but not for president; William H. Taft won the president’s sympathies. Yet withal, Roosevelt always was lukewarm about Hughes the man.

Hughes had been nominated in 1906 largely through the efforts and suasion of Theodore Roosevelt, who acted in equal parts from sincere admiration of Hughes’s management of the inquiry into the corrupt insurance industry; and seeing Hughes as a dark horse alternative to rival factions within the state party. Hughes at the time was a private attorney.

Roosevelt considered the Hughes Administration honorable but not exciting; and Hughes himself to be obdurately self-centered, at times impractical, and an inept politician. One of his chief backers was Herbert Parsons who likewise sought an independent stance within New York politics (for instance, in between the factions of Thomas Collier Platt and Benjamin B. Odell, the Scylla and Charybdis Roosevelt navigated between, and attaching himself to Hughes). His elective ceiling reached one failed and three successful runs for Congress. Parsons also served as chairman of the New York County Republican Committee, 1905-1910.

In the cartoon, the most animated of the three figures is Parsons, whose place in the party he attached to the fortunes of Hughes. Parsons can be described, ultimately, as a self-styled kingmaker whose presence to men like Roosevelt usually proved more annoying then helpful.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-01-30

Creator(s)

Starrett, William K. (William Kemp), 1880-1952

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