He began it, teacher

Uncle Sam holds a switch behind his back as William Jennings Bryan, President Roosevelt, Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell, and John Worth Kern, who all have bloody faces, point at William Randolph Hearst, who has a bloody hand. Caption: “He began it, teacher.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

One of the hidden gems of the era’s political cartoons (1890s-1920s), and an unjustly obscure artist-commentator today, is W. A. Carson of the Utica Globe. The newspaper itself was a pioneer enterprise in American journalism, and is no less — and less unjustly — neglected today.

The upstate New York newspaper was a weekly distinguished for publishing an elaborate edition featuring color printing, and always a color political cartoon on its front page, centered below the masthead. It endeavored to be non-partisan; it established a system of newsboy distribution that because standard in newspaper publishing; and it was so accepted that at its height it published thirteen editions beginning on Tuesdays, yet retaining its weekend (Saturday) designation. Although it had antecedents, the Saturday Globe was published between 1885 and 1924, always in Utica, Oneida County, New York

Some of its distinctive, perceptive, elaborate color cartoons were unsigned (and occasionally they pictured news events, not political commentary) but by all evidence is seems that Carson was its chief and only cartoonist.

The meaning of “He Began It, Teacher” requires knowledge of an event well known to readers and voters at the time. It had a great effect on the 1908 presidential campaign, and indeed on American politics generally, eclipsing many issues of the parties’ platforms and even ruining careers of principal players of that campaign. Even the celebrated and weighty book The Bully Pulpit about Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft makes not one reference to the major aspect of the 1908.

Carson referred to it in this cartoon (originally printed in color) without naming the Archbold Letters. Muckraking publisher (and Yellow Journalist) William Randolph Hearst had been buying stolen correspondence of the president of the Standard Oil Trust, John D. Archbold, and various politicians and elected officials. Hearst made them public and in a speech during a crucial moment in the sleepy campaign, in September, and over several subsequent years in his newspaper chain.

The campaign was sleepy no more. The revelations of bribery and influence peddling effectively ended the career of Republican Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, of Ohio not coincidentally. Among other figures similarly exposed was the governor of Oklahoma, Charles Nathaniel Haskell, who simultaneously served as Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee. Haskell was a personal friend of Taft’s opponent in the presidential race, William Jennings Bryan.

Bryan had made honesty in politics, campaign finance reform, and refusal to accept money from corporations cornerstones of his campaign. He first defended Haskell and then was obliged to demand his resignation.

In the midst of such revelations President Roosevelt and Bryan — neither of whom were implicated in the exposures, as Taft was not — nevertheless involved themselves in the charges, counter-charges, accusations, and imputations. The ugly yet colorful altercations grabbed the attention of voters, newspapers, and political cartoonists. In fact if it were not for newspaper archives and political cartoons of the day, such as the ones saved in President Roosevelt’s White House scrapbooks, the major political story of 1908 would remain inexplicably subsumed by the mundane.

Carson interestingly caricatured Hearst in the cartoon. Most cartoonists of the day, in their many treatments of the scandal and dust-up, avoided Hearst, possibly because he was a rival publisher. But Carson accurately depicts his role; excepting the larcenous Archbold and corrupt politicians, Hearst did start it. Whether from noble, reform-minded, Muckraking motives; or revenge mostly aimed the Democrats, whose presidential nomination he actually had coveted (a longtime supporter of Bryan and aspirant to the New York offices of mayor, governor, and senator through the years; and a two-term Democratic congressman) he legitimately felt betrayed by Bryan.

Yet, when all was said and done, “he began it” as a campaign bombshell.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-03

Creator(s)

Carson, W. A. (William A.), 1862-

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