An unexpected visit

President Roosevelt walks out of a room with an “Ananias Club” door holding L. White Busbey in his right hand and Minnesota Representative James A. Tawney on top of his big stick in his left hand. Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon reads a “6000 word message to Congress” and is confused. Edward Henry Harriman and William Jennings Bryan watch from the door.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The dispute over the Secret Service’s expanded duties was a controversy that subsumed other matters between President Roosevelt and Congress at the end of his administration; and technically it was the dispute itself, and not the Secret Service, that was the issue in Washington (and in political cartoons).

It might fairly be said that the frustrated president was provocative in his last Annual Message, delivered in early December of 1908, when after earlier rebuffs at the hands of Congressional appropriators, the president supposed that some lawmakers had reasons to fear a new investigative agency. On December 17, after much heated debate, Congress sent a resolution to the White House summarizing its displeasure and issuing threats.

Not “careful about what it wished for,” at least in choosing to engage an angry Roosevelt, Congress received a carefully worded, excruciatingly precise reply from Roosevelt, defending himself point by point. He made Congress wait three long weeks, and increased, in detail, his dissection of the dubious defenses posed by Congressmen.

Two men he named were pictured in Edward Joseph McBride’s cartoon. Representative James A. Tawney of Minnesota was one of the four House members who composed the resolution; and Roosevelt found chinks in his ethical armor. Also put on the defensive was L. White Busbey; Roosevelt delved into history and revealed that Busbey wrote an article for the Chicago Inter-Ocean in 1904 against expansion of the Secret Service — while he was serving as Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon’s personal secretary, an exposure that embarrassed Busbey and the Speaker.

Roosevelt’s success, or vindication, in this long dispute before the public at large is indicated by the fact that even the routine critic of Roosevelt, cartoonist McBride, depicts the president favorably in this summary cartoon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-05

Creator(s)

McBride, Edward Joseph, 1889-

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