The old clo’ man!

President Roosevelt holds an old shirt labeled “discarded policy” as William Jennings Bryan comes to the door with a bag of old clothes: “cast-off Roosevelt policy” and “old populist doctrines.” Caption: Mr. B.—”Any old clothes to-day, gentleman?” Mr. R.—”Go ’round to the back door.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Nelson Harding’s typically perceptive cartoon about current political realities illustrates the fact that the famous French saying, Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose (The more things change, the more they stay the same) is not always true. His political cartoon’s accurate depiction of the relative positions, and relationships, between the two party leaders Theodore Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan, would have seemed incredible to readers and politicians four years earlier, or at the beginning of the Roosevelt administration.

Bryan’s Populist origins and many bedrock principles were anathema to Roosevelt and Republicans as recently as 1904, four years earlier. Indeed, much of the country felt the same way — Bryan, as Democratic presidential candidate, suffered crushing defeats in 1896 and 1900 — and a substantial portion of Democratic leaders were perpetually out of sympathy with Bryan’s views.

But during Roosevelt’s second term, several things changed. Issues in America changed — corruption in the corporate world was exposed, Muckrakers publicized health hazards and scandals, flaws in the economy and stock market were apparent, and President Roosevelt changed with the rapidly changing times too. He advocated many startling (or radical) measures in areas ranging from pure food to adulterated drugs to conservation of natural resources. He rode a whirlwind, sometimes encouraging insurgents in Congress, and sometimes managing their impulses, to construct programs for the future, and to establish regulatory commissions when needed.

Many observers, including political cartoonists, noted that Roosevelt’s evolution put him in the position of inheriting, or reconfiguring, many positions of the opposite party and even old Populist notions. Some Democratic politicians who were partial to Roosevelt noticed the same transformation. William Jennings Bryan himself, the decade-old nemesis, even lamented the same thing. In some proposed matters, the president figuratively leap-frogged over Bryan.

Harding’s cartoon, therefore does not (for instance) use clothes as a metaphor and note that Roosevelt and Bryan were then similarly clad. He pictured Bryan, rather, as an ideological mendicant — begging for Roosevelt’s cast-off garments, instead of vice-versa. The cartoon summarizes one of the most remarkable periods of political change in American history.

Theodore Roosevelt was sincere about his new viewpoints and a program of palliatives. But he also disclosed privately that changes in America — expansion and prosperity on the good side of the ledger; but corruption and brooding social unrest on the negative side — necessitated institutional reforms that would forestall revolution.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-05

Creator(s)

Harding, Nelson, -1944

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