Cycling

President Roosevelt is at the front of the pack in a bicycle race that includes Secretary of State Elihu Root, Woodrow Wilson, former U. S. Minister to Austria-Hungary Bellamy Storer, Senator Isidor Rayner, Perry Belmont, and Secretary of War William H. Taft.

Comments and Context

The awkward but popular artist W. A. Rogers was a longtime book illustrator and political cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, Life, and the New York Herald. This cartoon, from the end of 1906, depicts a wide assortment of figures in the news, apparently associated only by their prominence in momentary headlines — and therefore vying with President Roosevelt for headlines.

In the symbolic bicycle race (as these sporting events were becoming popular with fans) Roosevelt seems angry with Elihu Root, but in real life they were the best of friends (the famous Root was one of the endorsers of young Roosevelt’s entry into politics in 1881) and Root served as Secretary of State under President Roosevelt. Root was widely discussed at the end of 1906 for his advocacy, as yet theoretical, of radical reforms. So, however, was Roosevelt, who was glad to share the criticism that erupted.

This vignette cartoon depicts aspects of the cycling craze, such as “beneficial” or “injurious” to one’s health, problems with trying to dress appropriately and being excluded if not, the concern that “invalids, babies, and blind people” may soon take up cycling, and yet, despite the crowds, “the boom goes on.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-10-30

A minister with a “Bible” in his coat pocket rides a bicycle, in a race with another minister who is not far behind. A husband and wife are observing from a sidewalk in the background. Caption: Mrs. Goodwin–Dear me! there goes our pastor on his wheel; how devoted he is to his charge! He can’t get to church quick enough! / Mr. Goodwin–Oh, that isn’t it; he has a race on with old Deacon Aimen!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-01-08

This vignette cartoon depicts the tendency of Americans to overdo everything, such as hosting “large receptions in small houses,” women’s fashions and their “elevation and advancement idea,” “Arctic exploration,” the “forcing process with our children’s educations,” and the “Bicycle Boom.” Caption: A few random examples of the general tendency towards overdoing things, viz.: overdone fashions, overdone county fair exhibits, overdone high buildings, overdone Sunday editions, etc., etc.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-01-15

Three women cyclists are labeled “Republican Party, Dem. Party, [and] Populist Party.” The Democrat has hit broken glass and ruined her front tire and the Populist is having a bumpy ride on the rocks along the side of the road. They cannot keep up with the Republican cyclist. Caption: Democratic Party–She needn’t put on so much style; – the wind may soon get out… [text missing].

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-07-03

Grover Cleveland and Thomas B. Reed ride down the “Sound-Money Road” on a bicycle built for two, with tires labeled “Gold Standard,” and honking horns labeled “Ki-Yi Gun” at a small dog labeled “Silverite.” Caption: “In my opinion, Speaker Reed is the strongest and brainiest man in your (the Republican) party.” President Cleveland to Congressman Milliken, as per N.Y. World.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-07-01

This vignette cartoon depicts, at center, the current “craze” for “Free Silver,” showing Uncle Sam riding a silver rocking horse. Surrounding vignettes show him participating in several fads “Past and Present,” such as the “Blue Glass Craze” after A. J. Pleasonton’s discovery of the properties of blue light; the “Prohibition Crusade”; the “Roller-Skating Craze”; a puzzle craze in the 1880s including the “Fifteen Puzzle,” with 15 sliding blocks in a square box, and “Pigs in Clover,” a “rolling-ball dexterity puzzle”; the “Paderewski Craze” around 1891 for piano music by Ignace J. Paderewski; the cycling craze, which has not yet ended; and the “Schlatter Craze,” which did come to an end with the disappearance and death of faith healer Francis Schlatter.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-07-29

A gigantic man and a gigantic woman ride bicycles on a dirt road. They are road hogs, forcing other forms of transportation, mainly diminutive horse-drawn carriages, off the road.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-05-20

William McKinley struggles to ride a wooden bicycle with wooden wheels labeled “McKinley’s Financial Bicycle.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-04-08

William Jennings Bryan sits on the side of the road “to Washington,” his bicycle tires going flat. At the upper left, a vignette labeled “How he started” shows Bryan starting his ride to Washington, on a bicycle with tires labeled “Free Coinage Wind” and “Populist Wind.” Caption: How he started. How he will finish.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-08-26

A member of the clergy, a strict “Sabbatarian,” observes and deplores people engaging in various Sunday activities, including boating and bicycling. In the center vignette, Satan objects to the Sunday outings, too, because they seem “to make people better, instead of worse.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-05-26

This vignette cartoon depicts changes to folklore, fairy tales, courtship, and punishment, that will result from the cycling craze. Vignettes include witches riding bicycles instead of brooms, Father Time riding a bicycle, Cupid running over victims with a bicycle instead of shooting arrows at them, fairies on bicycles, and a cyclist’s nightmare in Hell.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-07-21

Puck rides a bicycle, carrying crutches and a large book labeled “Medical and Surgical Directory.” Tied to the bicycle are “Bandages, Splints, [and a bottle of] Arnica.” A long line of cyclists follows. Caption: Puck on wheels with all the modern improvements.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-06-06