Arctic Ocean--North Pole

Theodore Roosevelt informs W. Robert Foran he has received the cables. Roosevelt provides a statement in support of Robert E. Peary’s expedition success to be published if the reports of his success in the North Pole is true. Roosevelt is confused by the cable about Frederick Albert Cook because he is unaware of who the man is or what he has accomplished. He informs Foran he and Kermit Roosevelt have had success hunting elephants and rhinoceros together, but they will soon separate to travel and hunt separately.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-09-12

Theodore Roosevelt informs W. Robert Foran he has received the cables. Roosevelt provides a statement in support of Robert E. Peary’s expedition success to be published if the reports of his success in the North Pole is true. Roosevelt is confused by the cable about Frederick Albert Cook because he is unaware of who the man is or what he has accomplished. He informs Foran he and Kermit Roosevelt have had success hunting elephants and rhinoceros together, but they will soon separate to travel and hunt separately.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-09-12

President Roosevelt invites Victor Freemont Lawson to lunch with him, as the president would like to discuss several items with Lawson, including Walter Wellman’s plan to reach the North Pole.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-09

President Roosevelt shakes hands with Admiral Robert E. Peary on board of the ship Roosevelt at Oyster Bay just before Peary left for the North Pole.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07-12

Commander Peary leans on the deck of the SS Roosevelt. Peary is wearing a fur trimmed coat, gloves, and pants. The edges of the postcard are decorated with illustrations of Arctic scenes. The back of the postcard features a description of the photograph, explaining that Peary has just left Upernavik in Greenland and is looking into the “land of the unknown.” Peary was an arctic explorer and claimed he and his expedition crew were the first to reach the geographic North Pole on April 8, 1909. This claim is still controversial.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1909

President Roosevelt shakes hands with Commander Peary before Peary sets sail from Oyster Bay, New York, for his Arctic expedition in July 1908. The edges of the postcard are decorated with illustrations of Arctic scenes. The description printed on the back of the postcard says Peary successfully completed his “dash for the pole” on April 8, 1909. Frederick A. Cook announced on September 1, 1909, that he had reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1909

A crowd of people on the deck of the SS Roosevelt. A drawing of the ship itself is inset in the top left corner. The description printed on the back of the card tells of Peary’s exploration of the Arctic Ocean and “dash” for the North Pole, which involved “repeated efforts by daring men and the sacrifice of hundreds of lives in the cause of science.”

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1909

The SS Roosevelt as it left Oyster Bay, New York, for Commander Peary’s Arctic expedition. The edges of the postcard are decorated with illustrations of Arctic scenes. The description printed on the back of the postcard describes the ship landing at North Star Bay in Greenland after sailing through “thick fogs and heavy ice drifts.”

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1909

The SS Roosevelt is stuck in ice. The edges of the postcard are decorated with illustrations of Arctic scenes. The description on the back of the postcard describes the ship as “but an eggshell in [the icebergs’] grasp.” The men on Commander Peary’s arctic expedition had to be willing to sacrifice their lives for the “great work” of the exploration.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1909

The crew of the SS Roosevelt, which sailed on an expedition to the North Pole from 1908 to 1909. The edges of the postcard are decorated with illustrations of Arctic scenes. The description on the back of the postcard explains that Captain Bob Bartlett is the man standing on the far right, below the “X”.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1909

At a gathering of “The Undiscovered Club,” the North Pole, recently discovered by either Frederick A. Cook or Robert E. Peary, is making a tearful departure. Those gathered and awaiting discovery are “The Man in the Iron Mask, Perpetual Motion, The man who wrote Shakespeare, Fountain of Youth, South Pole, The Lost Lenore wearing a pin labeled ‘Poe’, Universal Peace, Captain Kidd’s Treasure, Honest Graft, The Great American Novel, [and] Something for Nothing.” Caption: The North Pole leaves the ranks of the Undiscovered.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-10-13

Arctic explorers Frederick A. Cook and Robert E. Peary face off on either side of a frozen figure labeled “The Pole” holding up Cook’s “Book Royalties” and Peary’s “Lecture Receipts.” Each claims to have seen “The Pole” first. Caption: With acknowledgements to the designer of the Hudson-Fulton poster.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-09-29

Theodore Roosevelt wishes William Loeb a merry Christmas and will have much to tell him on his return to the United States. Roosevelt has killed around two hundred animals on safari, from an elephant to a dik-dik. Kermit Roosevelt has grown to become a better hunter than his father. Roosevelt refused Herbert Parsons’s request to publicly support Otto T. Bannard. He supports Bannard, but is not fully informed of the issues and thinks it would look foolish to try and advise voters from Africa. In the Peary-Cook controversy, Roosevelt believes that Frederick Albert Cook “has all the earmarks of a fake” and that Robert E. Peary reached the North Pole.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1909-11-12

At center, Andrew Carnegie donates an “inland sea” as a place to send the Navy. Surrounding vignettes include other options where it could be sent: the “North Pole,” the “Saragossa [sic] Sea,” the “Saharra [sic] Desert,” or “Salt Creek” – where the “Salt Creek Reception Committee,” comprised of such figures as “D.B. Hill, Alton B. Parker, Croker, Burton, Jerome, [and] Seth Low,” awaits its arrival. Caption: Some places to send it without giving offense.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The American Navy was in the news when this cartoon appeared, as it was at least once a year during President Roosevelt’s administration — during the annual message, today called the State of the Union address.