Puck, v. 63, no. 1633 | - Theodore Roosevelt Center

Caesar’s no

Theodore Roosevelt as Caesar rejects a crown labeled “1908” as another crown labeled “1912” hovers nearby.

Comments and Context

Speculation? Prediction? An easy subject when the cartoonist’s deadline loomed? There is no record of what Udo J. Keppler exactly meant by his brilliant caricature of Theodore Roosevelt, as Caesar, renouncing the crown. It was natural to wonder: Roosevelt viscerally embraced the presidency, the public still adored him, and was only 50 years old, younger than many presidents were before they entered the office. His life was still ahead of him.

The modern Arnolds

A gigantic man labeled “National Resource Grafter” sits in a wilderness setting, passing sheets of paper to a group of men labeled “Land Office Official, Kept Judge, Congressman, Politician, [and] Senator” who are reading their “Oath of Office” on the papers given them which states “Franchises, Special Privileges, Land Patents, Mineral Rights, Tax Exemption, [and] Timber Grants.” In an insert, Benedict Arnold passes papers labeled “Plans of American Fortifications” to a British military officer. Caption: He betrayed his country then; they betray their country now.

Comments and Context

It is interesting that in mid-Summer of a presidential campaign season, as the nominating conventions are meeting and public interest in partisanship would be intense, that Puck directs many of its cartoons to general issues and not to partisan attacks or defenses — that is, party politics. J. S. Pughe’s cartoon, for instance, focused on the increasing tendency toward — or increasingly exposed — corruption in the government’s land-use policies.