Puck, v. 63, no. 1614 | - Theodore Roosevelt Center

Narcissus

William Jennings Bryan, as Narcissus, sits on a rock beside a pool of water labeled “Democratic Sentiment,” staring at his reflection.

Comments and Context

Cartoons like Udo J. Keppler’s front cover drawing, a masterful if withering depiction of the once and future Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, can make it difficult for readers to realize that Puck was generally a Democratic journal and fairly reformist and increasingly radical in its views. Bryan, after all, was a Democrat who identified as a reformer and whose political positions were increasingly radical.

The rivals

A white cat wearing a bow labeled “Nomination” is being courted by other cats who represent potential candidates in the upcoming presidential election. Two other cats peer over walls in the background. Those depicted are Philander C. Knox, Leslie M. Shaw, Charles Evans Hughes, Charles W. Fairbanks, William H. Taft, Joseph Gurney Cannon, Joseph Benson Foraker, and George B. Cortelyou. In the background are Timothy L. Woodruff and Albert J. Beveridge.

Comments and Context

As the mid-summer Republican presidential nominating convention drew closer, Puck magazine seemed ever more determined to start a cat-fight between politicians who might otherwise have harbored White House ambitions. But President Roosevelt, having disclaimed interest in succeeding himself in 1908 — and wanting at all costs to secure the nomination for Secretary of War William H. Taft, and avert intraparty squabbles — managed to frustrate any potential rivals to Taft.