“The grand old party”

Many different faces of President Roosevelt are shown inside the Republican elephant.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The Women’s National Daily was a newspaper published in the University City section of St. Louis, part of a long-range but short-lived political movement that encompassed the suffrage movement, labor reforms, and political activism. There were schools on its grounds, conferences devoted to various causes were held there, and it encouraged local candidates. It never became a national movement, much less of substantial local impact, but the newspaper was one result.

The paper was decidedly radical and consistently anti-Roosevelt. Among its cartoonists who proceeded to positions of more visibility (many to the Pulitzer newspaper chain, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch being its local outlet) was Camillus Kessler. Ironically, the majority of his subsequent work contained no hint of political tendencies, much less the radical flavor of his Women’s National Daily output. He became identified, in fact, with panel cartoons celebrating American boyhood and nostalgic themes.

It is interesting to note his observation about the Grand Old Party. Cartoonists of all partisan stripes shared the same preoccupation. The faces of Theodore Roosevelt within the silhouette of the Republican elephant show the president preponderantly in various unflattering moods — angry, bellicose, shouting, assertive — but, as with friendlier Republican cartoonists, never suggesting anything other than Roosevelt’s utter domination of his party. Such compositions were not accusations or celebrations, but cartoon statements of fact.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-30

Creator(s)

Kessler, Camillus

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