Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925

Alton B. Parker, William Jennings Bryan, David B. Hill, Arthur P. Gorman, Tammany Hall boss Charles Murphy, William Randolph Hearst, an unidentified rower, and Grover Cleveland sit in an eight-oared racing shell in a race against President Roosevelt, who is rowing as a single sculler in an eight-oared shell. The Democrats are proving to be poor scullers, as they are unable to manage their oars. Caption: Stroke Parker–Now […], boys, get together!

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Cartoonist Keppler’s depiction of the 1904 presidential race is a fair analogy. Unseen in this battered, vintage copy is President Roosevelt, the lone sculler in the Republican scull, and far ahead. The only satisfied figures among the Democrats are candidate Alton Brooks Parker, presidential candidate, at the front, and former president Grover Cleveland, the party’s elder statesman whose influence succeeded in Parker’s nomination and a conservative platform. Mirroring the dissatisfaction of the Democrats is the cross-purposes of their oars in the water.

Politicians Henry Gassaway Davis, William Jennings Bryan, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles W. Fairbanks, Thomas Collier Platt, and Alton B. Parker shake hands with farmers outside a tent labeled “The New Farmers’ Alliance.” Caption: Find the real farmers.

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At first glance, this cartoon by J. S. Pughe can be viewed as a prosaic view of campaign-season politicians seeking the voters of farmers and the agrarian class. It is what politicians do, reaching out to all segments of the voting public. A chuckle can be raised by the depiction of politicians, even those in top hats, wearing farmers’ boots, trousers, and chore coats.

Democrats and Republicans, capitalists, social reformers, political symbols, and others enjoy a summer outing at a park.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-08-17

At center, Uncle Sam looks into a mirror while descending a stairway in a hall. “Swallow” and “Watson” are standing in the hall, holding candles. In the vignette at lower left, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, Roosevelt, Fairbanks, Parker, and Davis, arrive in costume. On the lower right they are unmasked and engaged in a game with Columbia. On the middle left is “Bryan” as “An Old Timer,” and on the middle right “Taggart” and “Belmont” play a prank on an elderly woman with a “Bogie Man” labeled “Militarism.” At top left, bobbing for “Campaign Funds” are “Taggart, Bliss, Cortelyou, [and] Belmont,” and at top right “Odell, Shaw, [and] Hill” are “Jumping the Issues.”

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Puck, a major Democratic publication, seems extremely unconcerned with the outcome of the imminent presidential election: little more than a week before balloting, its center-spread cartoon — traditionally a forum for powerful, persuasive political cartoons — instead published genre cartoons on a Halloween theme. Yes, with politicians as the characters, but more humorous than partisan. It possibly saw the writing on the wall, a massive Democratic defeat.

President Roosevelt sits on a fence on a hill, flying a kite labeled “Popularity.” Below are several potential Democratic presidential candidates, all of whom are having difficulty flying their kites. From left to right are William Jennings Bryan labeled “W.J.B.” holding a bellows labeled “Moral Issue” and blowing on his tattered kite labeled “1896” and “1900” with ribbons on the tail labeled “Free Silver, Populism, Anti-imperialism, [and] Free Riot.” Next is David B. Hill holding a kite labeled “Parker Boom,” then Charles Francis Murphy holding a kite under his arm labeled “McClellan Boom,” followed by Grover Cleveland, then Richard Olney holding the string to a kite labeled “Past Record” lying on the ground, with ribbons labeled “1884” and “1892,” “Tariff Reform, Independent Vote, [and] Personal Popularity,” and then Arthur P. Gorman whose kite is tangled on a tree branch labeled “Panama Blunder.” In the center is a little yellow child labeled “Willie” who is all tangled up in his own kite string. The kite, lying on the ground, is labeled “Yellow Journalism” and the string spells “McKinley Slanders.”

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This cartoon is a simple and accurate portrayal of the political situation as the United States entered the presidential campaign of 1904. The Democratic field was divided among several weak candidates, and harbored a fear that a third nomination of William Jennings Bryan would result in a third substantial defeat at the polls. And President Roosevelt, as the incumbent, seemed sure of victory as enjoyed widespread popularity in the country and could boast of many policy victories.

Puck, as a professor, shows a slide of the germs infecting the Democratic Party. Shown are William Jennings Bryan labeled “Bryanism,” William Randolph Hearst who is labeled “Yellow Journalism,” a man labeled “Anarchism” and an old man labeled “Populism,” and a firebrand labeled “Platforms” with flames labeled “Chicago” and “Kansas City.” “Free Riot” and “Free Silver” also appear among the germs on the slide. Caption: Puck — Gentlemen, we have here the most dangerous germs in the body politic.

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Puck prided itself on being independent, but had generally supported Democrats since its founding in 1876. Around the time of this cartoon, with the 1904 Democratic presidential nominating convention weeks away, the magazine proved its partisan bona fides — at this time a conservative streak of democracy — by offering avuncular advice by a magic-lantern lecture.

New York’s Appeal Judge Alton B. Parker as the sun labeled “Sane Democracy” emerges from behind William Jennings Bryan as the moon labeled “Bryanism.”

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Still two months from the Democratic National Convention, Puck engaged in wishful thinking — albeit with changing political winds on its side — as it depicted New York State Appeals Court Judge Alton B. Parker as the bright and shining alternative to William Jennings Bryan. The conservative jurist became the party’s presidential nominee at the St. Louis convention. He resigned from the bench, and lost the election to President Roosevelt by an unprecedented margin.

William Jennings Bryan sits on a donkey on the “Democratic Merry-Go-Round.” He is holding up a yellow, diminutive William Randolph Hearst who has a small sword labeled with dollar signs ($) in his right hand, attempting to spear the “Nomination” hanging at the bottom of the canopy of the merry-go-round.

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William Randolph Hearst is depicted in Pughe’s cartoon as a plaything of William Jennings Bryan, but the actual situation — the political dynamic between Bryan and Hearst, and the politics of the moment — was different.

At center a group of six men, including John D. Rockefeller and E. B. Thomas, warm themselves by a stove labeled “Standard Oil.” At bottom left Andrew Carnegie burns “U.S. Steel Bonds” and Charles Schwab attempts to burn “Steel Common” stocks. On the right Chauncey Depew burns speeches. On the middle left a tramp rests against a haystack in the warm sun. On the right William Jennings Bryan generates hot air while speaking to a group of farmers. On the top left a family burns the furniture in a fireplace. On the right E. B. Thomas sits in front of a fireplace where a lump of “Radium” is warming the room.

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Eben B. Thomas had risen from telegraph operator to the presidency of the Erie Railroad (and eventually the Lehigh Valley Railroad). He was very successful at consolidating rail lines and their efficiency, and maintaining labor harmony in an era of conflict. In his position he became a useful ally of J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie, especially in his geographic “domain” of central Pennsylvania, land of oil, coal, and steel mills.

An elderly woman labeled “Democracy” stands next to a trunk labeled “Old Issues” and with a tag that states “To the White House.” Standing at the curb are several cab drivers labeled “Parker, Olney, Johnson, Shepard, Gorman, [and] Watterson” hoping to pick up a fare, and two other drivers labeled “Cleveland” and “Bryan” sitting on their carriages. Cleveland does not appear interested, though Bryan, on his cab labeled “16 to 1,” holding up his hat, calls out above the others.

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Political cartoons, when well designed, not only present issues and events clearly, but also convey subtexts, background information, and nuances that speak to readers of their time, and to subsequent students of history.

William Jennings Bryan rides on a horse fashioned out of “The Commoner” newspapers, through a town, announcing that representatives of the reorganized Democratic Party were coming, drawing out old men brandishing weapons labeled “Populism, 16 to 1, Free Riot” and a drum labeled “Dead Issues.” An old man leans out a window waving a flag that states “Free Silver or Bust.” Includes verse based on “Paul Revere’s Ride.”

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In the weeks preceding the 1904 Democratic National Convention in St. Louis, the two-time presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan, staged an all-out effort for another nomination, or, at the very least, to argue for the nomination of a candidate whose subscribed to Bryan’s perennial platform planks — free silver, anti-expansion, etc. He spoke across America and also used the columns of his popular newspaper The Commoner, edited by his brother Charles.

William Jennings Bryan, his hat falling to the ground and with one foot braced against a water trough, tries to pull a donkey labeled “Democracy” to the trough where the water is labeled “Bryanism,” the trough is labeled “Kansas City Platform,” and the pump is labeled “Populism.”

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This simple cartoon by Joseph Keppler encapsulates the situation the Democratic Party found itself in between the presidential elections of 1900 and 1908. Very simply, William Jennings Bryan, the young Nebraska congressman, had dominated the party and its councils since his “Cross of Gold” speech electrified the nominating convention in 1896 and catapulted him into the presidential candidacy. The force of his personality, and his startling agenda of Populist reforms, likely played equal roles in his leadership.

President Roosevelt appears as a dog in the “Republican Kennels,” with his trainer Mark “Hanna.” In the “Democratic Kennels,” an old woman labeled “Dem. Party” pats Alton B. “Parker” on the head and offers him a biscuit labeled “Political Sanity.” Other Democratic dogs George “Gray,” Richard “Olney,” David B. “Hill,” and Arthur P. “Gorman” labeled “Senatorial Leadership” and “Panama Issue” are kenneled nearby. Hanging on the wall is a picture of “Cleveland” with ribbons labeled “1884” and “1892,” and in the lower left is a cage labeled “Distemper” with William Jennings Bryan as a dog bandaged with “1896” and “1900” sitting inside before a small dish labeled “Free Silver.” In the center is a small dog labeled “Yellow Journalism Willie Hearst.”

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This cartoon appeared in Puck in the second week of February 1904 — five months before the actual Democrat Party presidential nominating convention. Pughe’s cartoon of a dog show mirrored Puck Magazine’s editorial desires, as per the depictions, dignified or mocking, of possibles candidates; and the nature of the labels. Also the expressions of the dogs in the kennel show reliably reflect the confidence of the various candidates. Further, the kind attentions to the otherwise obscure New York Judge Alton Brooks Parker — the eventual nominee, pushed by back-bench conservative Democrats — by the old spinster representing the Democratic Party, is prescient.

William Jennings Bryan, as a parrot, chatters at an old woman labeled “Democratic Party.” He is perched on a stand labeled “Dead Issues” with a food dish labeled “Populism,” and squawking “The Moral Issue!! Free Silver!! Kansas City Platform!! [and] 16 to 1.”

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The clear message of this cartoon by Pughe, Puck‘s go-to animal artist in most cases, is that William Jennings Bryan, Populist firebrand who stormed the Democrat Party in 1896 and held it in thrall for eight years, had clearly worn out his welcome, especially after two failed presidential runs.

William Jennings Bryan, as a golfer holding a club labeled “Spite,” is stuck in a sand trap trying to hit a golf ball labeled “Cleveland” and showing his likeness. Shafts of broken clubs lie in the sand, labeled “Envy, Jealousy, Malice, [and] Cussedness.” A hat labeled “Bryan” lies in the grass and there is a marker in the background labeled “16 to 1.”

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When William Jennings Bryan broke upon the national political scene with his “Cross of Gold” speech at the 1896 Democrat convention and his subsequent years of party domination and three presidential runs, his populist critique was a veiled attack on Grover Cleveland as president and Democratic party leader. Conservative Democrats like Cleveland, who were loyal to sound money, the Gold Standard, and such policies, were the enemy of Bryanism, although the populist scarcely ever attacked the former president by name.

A scarecrow in a corn field, labeled “Nomination,” is fashioned out of pieces of cloth labeled with the names of several states: “Indiana, Illinois, Mass., Mich., Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, West Virginia, [and] New Jersey.” It wears a sash labeled “Repudiation.” Standing in the background is a farmer wearing a hat labeled “Democracy” and carrying a rifle labeled “Nat’l. Convention.” A crow labeled “Bryan,” with the face of William Jennings Bryan, is sitting on a fence, eyeing the corn field. Caption: The Democratic Farmer — If that doesn’t keep him out, I’ve got something here that’ll fix him.

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Pughe’s clever cartoon (and brilliant caricature) proved prescient, less than a year before the 1904 Democrat presidential nominating convention. The party (labeled “Democracy”) is depicted, in rare form, by a farmer rather than a donkey or animal form. His weapon to keep the crow Bryan from his field — if the ragtag scarecrow-of-states failed to repel the crow, is a shotgun labeled “National Convention.”

An old woman labeled “Democratic Party” stands in the “Democratic Intelligence Bureau” managed by “J.K. Jones” who is sitting behind a desk. She is “looking for help” and taking a good look at several prospective candidates, from left: David B. Hill “No objection to dirty work,” William Jennings Bryan “Used to waiting,” Richard Olney “Old but regular,” Edward M. Shepard “Will do anything,” Alton B. Parker “Neat and quiet,” and Arthur P. Gorman “Willing and obliging.”

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A common theme of the time among political cartoonists, even Democrat cartoonists, is the weak field of national candidates. In Pughe’s variation, this Puck cartoon pictures the old-maid Democrat lady looking for household help — a presidential candidate for the following year.

William Jennings Bryan, as a horse racing jockey, sits on a rocking horse trying to catch Grover Cleveland, who is walking away from him on the right. Caption: “I’ll run that man down, if I have to kill the horse.”

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Former President Grover Cleveland never admired and scarcely supported William Jennings Bryan. While still president and after Bryan was nominated for the presidency by the Democrat and Populist parties, Cleveland supported the “Gold Democrat” candidate Palmer in 1896. As Bryan never surrendered his radical principles, Cleveland never wavered from his essential conservative beliefs. Who was titular head of the party?

William Jennings Bryan, wearing the pope’s tiara and holding a scepter labeled “16 to 1,” jumps up and down and stamps his feet in anger, as six men labeled “Cleveland, Whitney, Hill, Gorman, Parker, [and] Olney” stand to the left, laughing.

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Pughe’s cartoon appeared shortly after the mid-term elections of 1902, during which the Democratic Party did not fare well, due in part to the popularity of the new president, Theodore Roosevelt, the continuing prosperity in the country, largely unabated since 1897, and what might be termed a fatigue with William Jennings Bryan. The “Commoner” had been the party’s presidential candidate in 1896 and 1900 and lost badly. His harping on the “16 to 1” free-silver coinage issue was growing thin.

William Jennings Bryan escorts an old woman labeled “Dem. Party” on his right arm. Coming up behind them is “A.B. Parker,” well-dressed, wearing a top hat and overcoat.

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Following up on Puck‘s center-spread cartoon of the previous week that featured a depiction of the obscure Alton Brooks Parker, this issue placed Parker on the front page. Keppler’s cartoon suggests that Parker, or rumors of his possible presidential candidacy, plagued the party’s titular leader William Jennings Bryan. Clearly there was a movement among the party’s conservative Eastern and “sound-money” wing, to boost Parker.