Cuba

Colonel Alexander S. Bacon accuses President Roosevelt of lying about his charge on San Juan Hill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-14

Senator Spooner provides corrections and suggestions regarding a draft of President Roosevelt’s letter accepting the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the upcoming election. Spooner arranges his suggested edits by paragraph and line numbers or by headings. Topics discussed include the Panama Canal, Cuba, the tariff, and the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-15

President Roosevelt writes to his son Kermit about Archie playing with Skip the dog and spending time with Edith. William H. Taft and Robert Bacon have returned from a successful trip to Cuba, and Roosevelt and Edith will be going to Panama. Roosevelt closes with his opinion of whether or not Ted will get into Harvard’s Dickie Club.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1906-10-23

President Roosevelt writes his son Kermit to tell him about his experiences aboard the USS Louisiana (BB-19) while he and Edith sail to Panama.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1906-11-11

Transcription of a manuscript written by Theodore Roosevelt where he defends American involvement in the affairs of Central and South America. He mentions Panama, Cuba and San Domingo. A number of words are left out of the transcription. The exact date of this item is not known except that he wrote it after his presidency, possibly right before his trip to South America. 

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1913

A ship lies at a loading dock in Cuba or South America where they are shipping their revolutions, with scenery, military equipment, and personnel, to Coney Island. There is organization and composure in the boarding of the ship as revolutionaries and soldiers await their turns.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This complicated cartoon by Carl Hassmann, full of private encounters and visual humor amidst the hubbub, asks a question that, in an America now used to theme parks, almost seems logical. The idea to not solve each new territory’s social or economic challenges, but to allow Americans to acquaint themselves with the cultures of the new American possessions — was maybe before its time.

President Roosevelt as a good samaritan offers a bottle labeled “Extra Session” to a fallen figure of rolled-up papers labeled “Cuban Reciprocity Treaty.” The U.S. Capitol is visible in the background.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The day before the date of this issue of Puck (which illustrates that magazines traditionally, by exigencies of production, printing, and distribution, had cover-dates a week or two different from the calendar), President Roosevelt transmitted a message to Congress. It addressed matters between the United States and Cuba.

President Roosevelt stands next to Uncle Sam who is sitting on a stool in a “U.S. Custom House.” Roosevelt has his left hand on Sam’s right arm and is gesturing to the left, toward a customs official who is inspecting the bags of a Filipino man just inside a door labeled “Philippines” and “Prohibitive Tariff.” The door is locked and barred by “Seventy-Five per cent of Dingley Rates.” In the background, a woman exits through a door labeled “Cuba” and “Reciprocity” and a man exits through a door labeled “Porto Rico” and “Free Trade.” Caption: President Roosevelt–You’ve been fair to the other two. Now, keep faith with this one.

comments and context

Comments and Context

In the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, different tariff duties and trade policies were imposed on America’s new territorial possessions. Given their retention, this was logical because they each had different histories, geography, economies, and levels of sophistication. One of the prices of empire was dealing with the inevitable complications. Cuba, with a relatively mature infrastructure and major industry, sugar, received more consideration from Washington than did the rather unsophisticated island of Porto Rico (as it was then spelled). The Philippine Islands were a special case for several reasons: they were the farthest of the new lands from the continental United States, the population was the most resistant to American occupation, and as part of the Treaty of Paris that ended the war, Spain received trade conditions equal to those of the United States. William Howard Taft, a federal judge who had been Theodore Roosevelt’s friend since he was United State Solicitor-General under Benjamin Harrison when Roosevelt was head of the Civil Service Commission, served as governor-general of the Philippines from 1901-1903, and tried to effect what historian Michael Cullinane has called the “Filipino-American collaborative empire,” characteristically seeking middle ground. Manila was represented by two representatives in Washington (the other possessions got one each), and strong arguments were made for favorable trade considerations. Pughe’s cartoon dates from the time when relatively harsh tariffs were imposed on the Philippines. Ultimately Roosevelt achieved Congress’s approval for nearly full reciprocity on each nation’s goods.

Columbia [the symbol of the United States] stands on the seashore with a small child who is wearing a hat labeled “Cuba.” Columbia has dropped a ribbon labeled “U.S. Protectorate” that is wrapped around the young girl’s waist, enabling her to walk without assistance.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Four years after the treaty that ended the Spanish-American War, on May 20, 1902, Cuba “seceded” from the United States and declared itself a republic. It did not gain complete freedom from the United States, however. In its constitution were provisions that granted the United States the right to intervene in certain internal affairs; and have a role in its foreign relations and economic affairs. Eventually, under the Platt Amendment, the United States was granted a lease for a military base at Guantanamo Bay. American concessions were guaranteed percentages of United States sugar imports; guarantees that increased through the years. Only in 1934 did Cuba gain a fuller measure of political and diplomatic freedom.

A young woman wearing a hat labeled “Cuba” stands, with her arms crossed, trying to decide which of three paths to choose. The first path, labeled “Reciprocity,” leads to an angry “Beet Sugar Senator” who is offering “No Tariff Concessions.” The second path, labeled “Cuban Loan,” leads to Uncle Sam offering the “Platt Amendment.” The third path leads to the U.S. Capitol and “Annexation.” None of the paths look promising to her. Caption: Events are fast limiting her to one path.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Despite a wide array of nuances, concessions, and amendments at this time and over subsequent decades, the choices Cuba faced are generally well-depicted in Keppler’s cartoon. Generally, Cuba chose the middle path of those shown. In the aftermath of Spain’s defeat by America and Cuban insurrectionists, annexation was never a serious option, although Cuba’s first president Tomas Estrada Palma actually had favored annexation at one point. The sugar trust in the United States (traditional sugar-beet growers and industries) objected to the provision in the Platt Amendment that generously opened, and even granted preference to, Cuban cane sugar in the United States market. The Platt Amendment (named for Senator Orville H. Platt, R-CT and not, as widely assumed, after New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt) required Cuba to accept provisions that granted the United States de facto sovereignty over the island, and control of prerogatives otherwise enjoyed by free nations. Many of these were, however, modified through the years, and generally so in 1934. But the granting of a permanent military facility at Guantanamo Bay remained.

President Roosevelt appears as a cowboy, on horseback, with Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma, on foot, driving cattle labeled “High Protectionist, Senatorial Pledge Breaker, [and] Beet Sugar Senator” into the “Reciprocity Corral.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The specific context of this cartoon, and the reference to “reciprocity,” is the question of America’s policy regarding sugar, Cuba’s chief export commodity. There were expectations after the Spanish-American War among Cuba’s leaders and provisional government, Cuban sugar growers, the American sugar trust, American sugar-beet growers, and various senators representing conflicting interests. Those expectations and hopes were settled by the Platt Amendment and decisions of President Roosevelt that granted free trade of Cuban cane sugar (no or low import duties imposed by the United States — virtual reciprocity, not that Cuba needed beet sugar) offset by Cuban guarantees of other American commodities and foreign-trade concessions. Cuban President Tomás Palma, once an advocate of annexation, backed this compromise. It sometimes is difficult to remember that Puck was a Democratic journal when reviewing such noble depictions and caricatures as in this cartoon of Roosevelt. Alternatively, of course, history remembers the public’s approval and the popularity of Roosevelt at the time. Noted, also, another phrase of Roosevelt’s that entered the language: the cartoon’s caption “A Strenuous Job.”

A “Tariff Wall” on the U.S. coastline has two gates, one labeled “Annexation” and the other labeled “Reciprocity.” A woman labeled “Cuba,” holding a bundle of “Raw Sugar” cane, is attempting to enter the United States through the gate labeled “Reciprocity.” She is being turned away vociferously by a man labeled “Sugar Grower” holding a piece of paper labeled “Tariff on Sugar.” In the background is a woman labeled “Porto Rico” carrying a bundle of sugar cane. She has entered through the “Annexation” gate over which the sugar grower and his tariffs have no control. Caption: Cuba — Why not let me in? Porto Rico is inside. / American Sugar-Grower — She didn’t come in this gate. She went through the other one – and I can’t control that!

comments and context

Comments and Context

It was certainly the case that domestic producers of sugar in the United States did not welcome, and lobbied against, the free importation of Cuban sugar and its free export to world markets. The situation pictured in Keppler’s cartoon was a bit more nuanced, however. Cuba, despite its problems under Spanish rule, had a functioning economy and export policies, and it had been assured of a minimal United States presence and relatively quick independence. Porto Rico (as then spelled in the American press) had minimal infrastructure, was deemed in need of special considerations, and was largely assumed to become an eventual part of the United States, by annexation, territorial status, or similar relation.

A young woman labeled “Cuba” turns away from Uncle Sam who is offering her a plate labeled “Reduction of Tariff on Cuban Sugar” with an egg labeled 20% on it. In the background a man labeled “American Sugar Grower” is enraged because he feels the egg is larger than it should be. Caption: Cuba — Only this little egg for me? / Sugar Planter — All that big egg for her?

comments and context

Comments and Context

In the years subsequent to the Spanish-American War, the United States betook itself of separate policies for each of its new colonies. Its role in Cuba can be contrasted with Puerto Rico, where long-term territorial ties were assumed from the start, and the Philippines, where insurrectionists fought any continuing presence of the United States. Cuban freedom fighters were used to agitating for freedom, and the island’s businesses were developed enough to reasonably assert independence. The United States had to navigate between these legitimate desires, and Cuba’s major export crop, sugar; and the demands of America’s powerful sugar lobby. The egg in the cartoon’s symbolism is a seasonal icon.

A well-dressed woman, holding a fan labeled “Cuba,” accepts the arm of Uncle Sam rather than going over to a well-dressed Cuban man wearing a sash labeled “Revolution.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

After decades of sporadic and bloody revolutions against their Spanish colonial overlords, and unlike the situation in Philippines, the population of Cuba generally accepted American presence and its promises of ultimate independence rather than transfer the focus of their insurrectionist activities, following the Spanish-American War. 

Uncle Sam talks to a young boy labeled “Cuba” who is making a capitol building labeled “Cuban Independence” in the sand on a beach. Caption: Uncle Sam. — That’s right, my boy! Go ahead! But, remember, I’ll always keep a Father’s eye on you!

comments and context

Comments and Context

The subtext of this cartoon is the interesting situation that the United States created for itself with new possessions won in the Spanish-American War. The new lands required different policies: eventual independence for the Philippines; protectorate status for Pacific islands; territorial status for Puerto Rico; relatively early independence for Cuba, but not before several decades of a strong “observer” hand over its affairs. Such a prospect explains Uncle Sam’s avuncular attitude… and little Cuba’s resentment.

William Jennings Bryan attempts to tear down American flags in Cuba and the Philippines. The spirit of General Henry Ware Lawton, who was killed in the Philippines, orders Bryan to “Halt!” The stripes on the American flag in the Philippines are labeled “Honor, Patriotism, Commercial Progress, National Dignity, Glory, Duty to Humanity, [and] National Self-Respect.” A headstone on the bottom right reads, “The American Soldier, who died for his country after planting this flag.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon that was dated after the presidential election of 1900, but drawn and printed beforehand. Cartoonist Louis Dalrymple was obliged to draw a general-theme commentary on a major theme of William Jennings Bryan’s campaign: anti-Imperialism. Puck had been a proponent of the war, and supported American expansionism.

Uncle Sam and Columbia dance in a line with figures representing “Cuba, Porto Rico, Labor, Capital, Farmer, Philippines, [and] Hawaii” at the entrance to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, visible in the background. Puck is at center in the foreground.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The meaning of this cartoon is found in its date: the first issue that Puck‘s cartoonists and editorial writers could absorb the results of the 1900 presidential election, and share reactions with readers. Without exulting in the election of any particular candidates, Puck simply celebrated the fact that another contentious campaign was ended. For the first time in the history of the United States, icons besides Uncle Sam and Columbia, capital and labor, were joined by the (rather awkwardly depicted) symbols of new territories from around the world. 

John Burroughs holds the door open for President Roosevelt as the finished Cuban and Reciprocity treaties hang on the wall.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-18

President Roosevelt rides down the Capitol steps laden with the signed bills, Panama Canal treaty and Cuban Reciprocity bill, that he kept the Senate in an extra session to complete.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-21

Translation written on the image: “nation, inconsolable, weeps before the [tomb where] lie its ideals.” The cross on the tomb reads, “RIP La Independencia Absoluta, Junio 5 1901.” The figure weeping at left holds a wreath with ribbon that says, “Those who did not vote for the Platt law.” The Platt Amendment (to the Army Appropriations Bill) defined the conditions under which the United States would withdraw its military presence from Cuba. It placed significant limits on Cuba’s sovereignty. The Cuban Constitutional Convention accepted its terms in June 1901.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-06