Just couldn’t resist it

President Roosevelt holds his big stick and starts to jump into a disagreement between Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell, Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, and William Randolph Hearst.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Shortly before this cartoon was published, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst made a rare public speech — rare, that is, except for appearances in several of his own political races — in which he revealed the contents of letters stolen from the files of Standard Oil president John D. Archbold.

Archbold, a onetime lieutenant and the successor to John D. Rockefeller, was exposed as having paid money to various politicians including Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker and Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell, who was also Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee during 1908’s campaign of William Jennings Bryan.

Hearst’s timing was strategic — his newspapers had been in possession of these letters since 1906 — and reeked of vengeance. The publisher was a Democratic congressman from New York, but had also been a candidate for mayor and governor in New York; and his presidential aspirations were evident in 1904, and fervent before 1908. He had done yeomen’s work on behalf of the party and Bryan himself for years. Hearst felt betrayed by Bryan and Democratic leaders.

The figures in the cartoon’s fight are the principals of the controversy. President Roosevelt’s desire to join the fight was accurately suggested by Eldridge W. Jamieson. Observers might have wondered why the president was eager to join the fray, beyond his congenital bellicosity. After all, Foraker was a longtime intraparty thorn in Roosevelt’s side, most recently accusing the president of misconduct in handling the Brownsville Affair, when a regiment of black soldiers was discharged after a melee involving death and injury of townspeople in Texas; and Foraker’s uncountable challenges to presidential candidate William H. Taft within the Ohio party, and in the larger campaign. Hearst and the president had a deep and long-standing enmity. And the third figure, Haskell, was proving to be a major embarrassment to the reform-pledging candidacy of Bryan.

“When your enemies fight, stay clear of them,” is the nature of ancient wisdom. But it was not Roosevelt’s bellicosity that drew his comments, speeches, and charges. He saw his participation as means to, yes, exact sweet revenge of sorts on old foes; but use his comments to assert his views, protect his legacy, and promote the candidacy of his anointed successor Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-26

Creator(s)

Jamieson, Eldridge W. (Eldridge Wallace), 1884-1968

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