Your match at last

President Roosevelt begins sweating as he attempts to keep a “third term” demon in a box. Uncle Sam watches on and says, “Your match at last.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon appeared in the Washington Herald, and despite its local publication, was clipped and pasted alongside cartoons from across the United States (and the world) in scrapbooks compiled by the White House staff. It was a clever and commendable method for President Roosevelt to maintain contact with opinions across America, and perhaps to assist him in forming his opinions.

Joseph Harry Cunningham seldom was distinguished as an artist or commentator, but he perfectly captured a situation — a presidential dilemma — that many cartoonists addressed less forthrightly.

On election night, 1904, Theodore Roosevelt claimed victory but then — to the frank surprise and horror of his friends, advisers, and even his wife Edith — declaimed interest in another term, in 1908. It immediately made him a lame duck, limiting his political leverage with Congress. Nevertheless, he remained true to his word.

But the public, political community, and press largely wished he would not stay true to his word. So for four years there was speculation, advice, predictions, appeals, all depicted by cartoonists. The president resorted to advocating the nomination of his Secretary of War William Howard Taft, partly to quell speculation about his own plans or possible duplicity.

Cunningham put a clever spin on the president’s dilemma, depicting the frustration in a manner the president himself might have done: stopping the third-term talk was like trying to box the devil himself. More dispositive was the observation made by Uncle Sam (the cartoonist’s alter ego in this case) that the famously strenuous president might have met his match.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-07

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