Cleveland, Grover, 1837-1908

“The Mulligan guard lies, but – surrenders”

An explosion has occurred at the “Claim Agency, Formerly Republican Head Quarters” with William M. Evarts peeking through the opening in the tent to survey the damage. Several small kiosks labeled “Machine Republicans Meet Here, County Democracy Blaine Exchange, Tribune Blaine Organ, [and] Friends of Tammany Meet Here” have been blown over and damaged. Also knocked to the ground by the blast were “Keifer, [Blaine holding a paper that states “I Claim Everything”], Logan, W. Reid, Butler, Dana, Burchard [labeled “R.R.R.”], Robeson, Elkins, Dorsey,” and an unidentified man lying on the ground next to bags of “Soap.” On horseback, in the upper left corner, is Grover Cleveland holding a scroll labeled “Reform,” and a Puck character carrying a standard labeled “Independents.” Among the ranks are Carl Schurz, George W. Curtis, and Henry Ward Beecher. Strewn on the ground are papers that state “I.O.U. If we win. J. G., I.O.U. Conditional on Success, C.W.F., [and] I.O.U. If you get there, J. Roach”; and several of the downed “Mulligan Guard” hold papers that state “We Still Claim,” whereas Dana’s paper states “I Give Up.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-11-19

Thanksgiving day, 1884 – “let us be thankful!”

A glum Thanksgiving Day feast is occurring with the downtrodden Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine and his supporters “W.W. Phelps, [Roscoe Conkling at an open door], William Mahone, Cabot Lodge, [John Logan], Robeson, Dorsey, [W. Reid, Benjamin F. Butler], Elkins, Platt, [Cyrus W. Field, and] C.A. Dana” gathered around a table, and with John Kelly as a dog next to a plate with a small bird labeled “Compliments of N.Y. Citizens.” Reid is removing the top of a platter labeled “Campaign” where there is a “Crow” that is “Compliments of the People.” Through a window, where Puck is looking in, can be seen Grover Cleveland carrying a large turkey labeled “Presidency” over his shoulder, and across the street is Jay Gould offering his “Congratulations.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-11-26

Crowding the cabinet-making business

Newspaper editors present their candidates for government appointments. James Gordon “Bennett” holds up a bust of Roscoe Conkling labeled “Sect. Interior,” with a tray labeled “Bennett’s Beauties” at his feet. Whitelaw “Reid” holds a tray labeled “Please choose these and suit us, Blaine & Reid,” on which are busts labeled “KKK” for “Sec’y Interior, Sec’y of War, [and] Treasury.” Joseph “Pulitzer” holds up a tray labeled “The World for Pulitzer” on which are busts of himself. Charles A. Dana carries a tray labeled “Dana’s Darlings” with busts of John “Kelly,” Thomas F. “Grady,” George M. “Robeson,” Samuel Sullivan “Cox,” and Benjamin F. Butler. There is also a man carrying a basket labeled “Hens’ Rights Heroines” with busts of “Lockwood, E.C. Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Phoebe Cozzens [sic], [and] Lucy Stone.” President Cleveland is visible through a window on the right, conducting interviews for cabinet positions. Caption: Chorus of Journalistic Candidate-Peddlers – “Here y’are now! – I’ve got the only genuine article! – Don’t mind that other fellow!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-12-17

A moment of anxiety – who is going to get left?

President Cleveland, as Santa Claus, stands in front of a fireplace where stockings are hung from the mantle. He has a large sack of toys labeled “Navy, Treasury, Interior, Justice, State, [and] War Dept.” on his back, and a cat that looks like John Kelly lies at his feet. Watching from around the room are “Bayard, Randall, Cox, Barnum, McDonald, Slocum, Lamar, Morrison, [Garland], Tilden, Carlisle, Hewitt, Watterson, [and] Thurman,” and asleep in a cradle labeled “Independence” is either Carl Schurz or Joseph Pulitzer.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-12-24

Puck’s review of the past year

Puck stands with lithographic pen and a long banner with scenes from cartoons that appeared in Puck Magazine during 1884, including the British Lion and “El Mahdi” in Egypt and Sudan, James G. Blaine’s presidential hopes, the rise of Chester A. Arthur, a downtrodden Tammany tiger, John Kelly and Benjamin Butler as entertainers, the French and the Chinese in “Tonquin,” the figure for the Independent Vote and Grover Cleveland joining forces, and millionaires Jay Gould and William H. Vanderbilt.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-12-31

A civil service reform version of an old fable

Grover Cleveland, as a shepherd, stands among his flock labeled “Treasury, Supreme Bench, Office, [and] Post Office,” telling a well-dressed wolf, who has a piece of paper in his pocket labeled “To the Victor Belong the Spoils,” that he cannot turn out corrupt Republicans in favor of spoils-hungry Democrats. Caption: President-elect Cleveland (to Democratic “Spoils” Wolf) – “I shall not discharge the corrupt Republican watch-dogs only to make room for you, my friend. That’s not the kind of civil service reform I mean!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-01-14

Puck’s notion of the kind of fancy-dress charity ball that would be a real, solid financial success

At a costume ball, a band of newspaper editors labeled “Herald, Sun, Staats-Zeitung, World, Times, [and] Evening Post” is conducted by Puck. Among those present at the ball are James Gillespie Blaine, Whitelaw Reid, William Maxwell Evarts, Roscoe Conkling, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, and John Kelly.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-01-28

Our government farm — President Cleveland finds an effectual protection against the twenty-five-year locusts

President Cleveland stands directly behind a wall of flames labeled “Civil Service Reform.” Behind him, working on the “Government Farm,” are members of his cabinet: William C. Endicott with a hoe, Lucius Q. C. Lamar kneeling before a newly planted tree, Thomas F. Bayard working on a tree labeled “State Department,” Daniel Manning holding a pot labeled “Treasury,” Augustus H. Garland with a shovel, William C. Whitney adding supports to a tree labeled “Navy Department,” and William F. Vilas with a watering can. In the foreground, locusts driven back by the smoke and overcome by the fumes lie on the ground and are about to be consumed by the flames. The locusts include “Kelly, Dugro, Voorhees, Blackburn, McLean, Dana, Butler, H. O. Thompson, Chenowith, Higgins, [and] Aquila Jones.” Two that seem unaffected are labeled “Hendricks” carrying a banner that states “To the Victors belong the Spoils” and “McLoughlin” [sic].

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-09-02

A preliminary set-to

James G. Blaine, badly bruised after boxing a round against the “Ohio Secretary of State,” is slumped against the ropes. William W. Phelps and Whitelaw Reid attempt to revive Blaine with a bottle of “Monopoly Mixture,” as Grover Cleveland hops into the ring, ready to go the next round with Blaine. Caption: Grover Cleveland – “You weren’t fighting me that round, my fine fellow! Now come up to the scratch, if you can!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-10-22

Shylock’s bad bargain

Jay Gould, as Shakespeare’s Shylock from the Merchant of Venice, races past the Doges’ Palace in the Piazzetta di San Marco in Venice, being hounded by several men labeled “German Vote, Merchants Cleveland Club, Independent, Banker, Irish Vote” and Labor. On the Palace, above, is a bust of Grover Cleveland and a sign that states “Cleveland. Elected by the Independents in spite of ‘Republican Soap’ and Democratic Treachery in N. Y. City.” Gould has his arms raised overhead, carrying a cane in one hand and a paper that states, “Bond for one pound of Uncle Sam’s Flesh, Signed by J. G. Blaine,” in the other. Puck, carrying his lithographic pen, runs alongside him. Caption: “Thou stick’st a dagger in me – I shall never see my gold again!” [Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene I].

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-11-12

A hard job with the hogs

President Cleveland, as a pig farmer, gets tangled in leashes attached to the hind legs of several hogs, each with a distinctive brand, labeled “Hugh McLaughlin, H. O. Thompson, Higgins, Beattie,” and one labeled “Tammany Hall” that looks like John Kelly. One hog labeled “Hedden” has broken free and is headed for the “Spoils Hog Pen” in the background. Standing on the left, observing, are Benjamin F. Butler, an unidentified man, Joseph C. S. Blackburn, and John R. McLean. Road signs state “Road to Spoils,” “National X Roads,” and “Cleveland Civil Service Reform Road.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-09-30

Why they dislike him — he will not prove himself a cat’s-paw in the enterprise

Grover Cleveland is a lion with his paw on a monkey labeled “T. Grady” on top of a rock labeled “Civil Service Reform.” Nearby is a small fire in which are roasting chestnuts labeled “City Spoils, State Spoils, [and] National Spoils Chestnut.” Cleveland is looking over his right shoulder at a group of monkeys in a tree. Among them are John Kelly, Charles A. Dana, Benjamin F. Butler, Henry Ward Beecher, and three monkeys labeled “Dynamiter, Ward Boss, [and] N. Y. Alderman.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-09-03

The political Courtney

At a boathouse is an exhausted James Gillespie Blaine, suffering from “Guano Gout,” being attended by Jay Gould, Whitelaw Reid, George M. Robeson, William Walter Phelps, and Stephen B. Elkins who is searching a box of patent medicines labeled “Remedy, Record Cleaner, Tariff Fever Cure, R.R. Record Purifier, Tattoo Eradicator, [and] Vermont Reviver (Homoepathic)” for a cure. John A. Logan readies the racing shell labeled “Aggressive Campaign” that may be stuck in “Monopoly Mud,” and Stephen Wallace Dorsey, at the entrance to the boathouse, carries oars labeled “Soap” and [Star] “Router.” Hanging on the wall are shells and oars labeled “Guano Statesmanship, Speaker Ship’s Record Boat, Senatorial Record, [and] Tariff Issue.” Grover Cleveland waits in his racing shell labeled “Reform” and Carl Schurz stands at the entrance to the “Independent Boat House” which is next to the “Democratic Boat House.” In the background is a crowded grandstand. Caption: Logan – “Come, Jim, show some nerve, or nobody won’t believe you’re in the race! Ain’t you never going to be aggressive?”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-09-10

Two political paths

“Evarts, Reid, Robeson, Logan, [and] Blaine” and William W. Phelps stand on the remains of a bridge “washed away by the freshet of Nov. 1884” labeled “Partisan Civil Service” and find it difficult to get to the other side of the river. In the background, on a solid “Civil Service Reform” bridge are President Cleveland, members of his cabinet, Carl Schurz, and others unidentified, one holding a sheet of paper labeled “A Mugwump Engineer” and others holding a board labeled “Tariff Reform.” In the upper left corner is a flag pole with a banner that states “Non-Partisan Civil Service” and a municipal building labeled “Good Government.” Caption: The Democrats have the Mugwump bridge, and a fair chance to reach the goal; but our Republican friends seem to have struck a pretty hard road to travel, just at present.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-06-10

Gulliver-Cleveland takes possession of the enemy’s fleet and deprives them of their strength

President Cleveland, as Gulliver, has a rope labeled “Good Policy” tied to the ships of the “Republican Party,” and pulls them toward the opposite shore where a group of men, including Ambassador Samuel S. Cox, Thomas A. Hendricks, Samuel J. Randall, and Charles A. Dana, wait beneath a banner labeled “Democracy” with the United States Capitol on a hill behind them. On the Republican shore are William M. Evarts, Whitelaw Reid, James G. Blaine, John Logan, and others.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-06-17

A new declaration of independence in the year 1885

President Cleveland stands at a table, his right hand on a long document labeled “Declaration of Independence July 4th 1885” that trails off the table, stating “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a President to dissolve the political bands which the machinery of his party has imposed upon him, he must speak in unmistakable words…” He is facing a group of men, one labeled “Tammany” and others labeled “Boss” and “Rural Boss.” They are standing near a passageway labeled “Exit.” Behind Cleveland are members of his cabinet, William C. Whitney, Daniel Manning, Augustus H. Garland, William F. Vilas, L. Q. C. Lamar, and Thomas F. Bayard who is holding a paper that states “The Cabinet ‘Solid’ on Reform.” On the wall in the background is a painting showing the presentation of the “Declaration of Independence July 4th 1776”.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-07-01

Harmony and envy

Three monks, Whitelaw Reid, James G. Blaine, and John Logan, walk a few steps ahead of a band of merry revelers composed of Puck, Puck’s figure for the “Independent” party, President Cleveland labeled “Reformed Bourbon” with a woman on the right labeled “North” and a woman on the left labeled “South,” and an African American man. Reid carries a sack labeled “Bloody Shirt” and “Irreconcilable Editorials” and Logan is reading “Paradise Lost.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-07-08

The new leader and the old chorus

John Logan, labeled “New Leader” of the Republican Party, the “party of Reform and Puritee,” holds a paper that states “Logan Speec[h] at Boston July 1885.” He is standing in the street between the White House and the U.S. Treasury, leading a chorus of tramps identified as “J. Gould, Field, Mahone, Roach, Riddleberger, T. Platt, Ex leader [James G. Blaine], Robeson, Keifer, Chandler, Brady, [and] Dorsey,” and an unidentified blind man who looks like Benjamin F. Butler. Some carry battered hand-pails labeled “Empty Hopes.” On the United States Treasury building is a sign, “Notice No Tramps,” and on the White House, where President Cleveland is leaning out a window, is another sign that states “No Tramps Admitted.” Uncle Sam, as a policeman, is leaning against the wall.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-07-15

The administration’s hardest job

President Cleveland and his cabinet officers struggle to push and pull the Democratic donkey labeled “Bourbon Democracy” into a stable labeled “Reform Stables.” On the donkey’s hooves, acting as brakes, are the faces of John Kelly labeled “Spoils System,” Charles A. Dana labeled “Anti-Civil Service Reform,” “Mclaughlin”, [and] “J.R. M’Lean.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-07-22

A Lenten dream

A mermaid labeled “Presidency” swims in water with a clear view of the fish that are attracted to her. Depicted are David Davis, Grover Cleveland, Joseph E. McDonald, Benjamin F. Butler, Robert Todd Lincoln, John Sherman, Sereno Payne, Chester A. Arthur, William T. Sherman, John Kelly, Samuel J. Tilden, Allen G. Thurman, Abram S. Hewitt, Roswell P. Flower, John Logan, Thomas Bayard, James G. Blaine, Ulysses S. Grant, Roscoe Conkling, Samuel J. Randall, and Winfield Scott Hancock.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-03-12