Caught with the goods on

South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman holds an open knapsack and a pitchfork as President Roosevelt holds up a trophy: “Oregon land correspondence.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The source of this cartoon is as interesting to historians as the event it pictures.

The increasingly ugly war of words between the White House and Congress whose origin was President Roosevelt’s request that the Secret Service be granted expanded authority reached a peak (or one of them) when the Senate’s firebrand “Pitchfork” Benjamin R. Tillman delivered a florid speech that simultaneously attacked Roosevelt and defended the honor of Congressmen.

Roosevelt was able to pull out a “trophy” — a revelation that Tillman had engaged in illicit land and timber deals. It simultaneously served to settle scores with the irritating Populist and defender of lynching, Tillman, and affirmed Roosevelt’s earlier intimations that some Congressmen opposed a federal investigatory agency, because they had things to hide.

The cartoon itself is interesting. By its drawing style, and genial tone, it obviously was the work of Clifford Kennedy Berryman. But his cartoons for the National Tribune were anonymous; his regular outlet was the Washington Star. He freelanced for the large-circulation military veterans’ weekly. The White House, in its scrapbook clippings, could keep tabs on veterans’ opinions as it formulated its own policies.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-01-14

Creator(s)

Berryman, Clifford Kennedy, 1869-1949

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