Cartoon in the Washington Herald

President Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan look at each other. In between them are two hearts–“our policies”–with the arrow of “public welfare” through them.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Joseph Harry Cunningham’s cartoon in the Washington Herald did not appear on Valentine’s Day, nor even April Fool’s Day, so it evidently fell in the category then of common discussion. President Roosevelt recently had delivered a long, substantial, and fairly radical special message to Congress. In the paper he outlined an extensive list of policy prescriptions for the last year of his presidency and beyond.

The Roosevelt agenda had evolved from conservative reform to more radical palliatives in the spheres of politics, regulation, banking, labor laws, conservation, etc. Many observers noted that some of the suggestions, both concrete and theoretical (for instance, federal income and inheritance taxes) were close to some planks in platforms of the Populists and Democrats a decade earlier. William Jennings Bryan, the Populistic two-time Democratic presidential candidate, noted this himself. After the publication of the message he wrote a congratulatory letter to the president, to which Roosevelt warmly responded.

The men never moved toward each other’s positions or personalities, however, to the extent pictured by Cunningham. The context of “Our Policies” should be noted. Roosevelt routinely called his agenda “My policies” in almost paternalistic and proprietary manner. This was especially evident about four years later when President William H. Taft incited Roosevelt’s feelings of betrayal for having abandoned “My Policies” — and the public knew exactly what the umbrella-phrase meant.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-13

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