The cat came back

President Roosevelt tells a “third term” cat to scat. Attached to its tail is the “special message.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Joseph Harry Cunningham left readers wondering whether President Roosevelt was a victim of circumstances, or a manipulative politician in this drawing, published after the delivery of a lengthy, electric, policy-laden message to Congress. The annual message summarized the administration’s substantial record of accomplishments, and charted an ambitious agenda of change and reform.

It sometimes is the task of the political cartoonist to depict a situation, to avoid advocacy, and prompt readers to think more deeply about a current event or issue. Such was the case in this cartoon.

Having scrupulously kept his promise not to seek another president term in 1908, and with increasing avidity advocating his Secretary of War, William H. Taft — and in addition, discouraging other aspirants, like Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks — the public and the political class was beginning to be reconciled to the fact that Roosevelt was serious. His public preparations for an African safari upon retirement further confirmed his declination.

That explosive annual message (now the State of the Union address) once again shifted the discussion back to a possible third term. Whether by calculation or not, the reception of the message ignited debates — was Roosevelt inserting himself into the nomination race? Once again, was he the issue, more than miscellaneous policies? Was there, in fact, another figure in the Republican Party who could retain the impetus of the Roosevelt reforms?

(There is evidence that the president, who could have chosen any date to deliver the message to the Congress, chose a day when New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes planned to make a major announcement to the press. Hughes was widely discussed as a “presidential possibility,” and Roosevelt clearly was interested in crippling any chance of attention being focused on Albany. Indeed, virtually every newspaper covered the president’s message extravagantly, and related Hughes’s announcement — which was a routine cry for attention and not the opening of a campaign. Even if a minor gambit in the larger picture, the timing enabled Roosevelt to keep the spotlight off Hughes and, he hoped, on Taft.)

The president seemed unable to lose that stray cat, which was now further annoying as it carried the noisy tin can, representing the attention drawn by the annual message. Basically, it was Roosevelt’s personal magnetism as much as the message’s substance, that sustained the nation’s continued third-term speculation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-04

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