Democratic donkey (Symbolic character)

A donkey carries the “Democratic Dough Bag” and an elephant carries the “Republican Dough Bag” as they walk down “Wall Street,” seeking campaign funding for the upcoming presidential election.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Welsh immigrant J. S. Pughe was Puck Magazine’s go-to animal cartoonist, whether in political cartoons — typically the Democrat donkey and the Republican elephant, but a wide menagerie in his political bestiary — as well as interior, black and white gag cartoons. All the humor magazines (and journals featuring cartoons as respite from text columns and advertisements) enjoyed cartoons with anthropomorphic animals, bugs, and birds in human situations. T. S. Sullivant was the best and most prominent of these cartoonists; in this period he drew for Judge and the Hearst papers. Pughe was Puck’s answer to Sullivant, even to the style of drawing characters with exaggerated, large heads.

The Democratic donkey labeled “Democratic Party” sits among papers that state “The Trusts are to Blame,” “Harriman is to Blame,” “Wall Street is to Blame,” “High Finance is to Blame,” “Roosevelt is to Blame / Roosevelt is Not to Blame,” “Overcapitalization is to Blame,” “The Rail-Roads are to Blame,” [and] “Crooked Business is to Blame.” Many are blamed, but no one will accept the responsibility for the panic of 1907.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The dispositive point of J. S. Pughe’s cover cartoon in Puck addressing the aftermath of the Wall Street Panic, is found in the attire and attitude of the Democrat donkey. He looks more like a jackass than a donkey, and the papers strewn about him are deflections about the Panic’s cause, the Panic’s fault, the Panic’s blame.

A bloated William Jennings Bryan, with a paper extending from his pocket labeled “Membership Fat Man’s Club. W.J. Bryan,” rides a diminutive Democratic donkey, while an even larger William H. Taft rides a diminutive “G.O.P” elephant. Caption: A case for the S.P.C.A.

comments and context

Comments and Context

At the end of his life, in 1925, William Jennings Bryan had enjoyed, or endured, periods of corpulence, probably inflicted by uncountable chicken dinners on the Chautauqua Circuit. That was his image as portrayed by Frederic March (as “Matthew Harrison Brady”) in the motion picture Inherit the Wind. In fact neither at the end of his life, nor in 1907 as in Frank A. Nankivell’s caricature on the cover of Puck, was Bryan ever as heavy as drawn.

Uncle Sam wakes up in bed, hung over, with everything in his room caught up in a whirlwind of bottles of alcohol labeled “Stand Pat Booze, Bull Moose Bitters, [and] That’s All Wilson,” a pitcher of “Debs Dope,” a ballot box, playing cards, chips, cigars, and furniture. Within the whirlwind is another whirlwind with the Democratic Donkey, Republican Elephant, and a Bull Moose buzzing around his head.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-11-06

Lame duck president William H. Taft is having Christmas dinner at the White House, served by the Republican elephant, when the Democratic donkey bursts through a window, causing the Republican elephant to spill the “Soup.” Caption: The Democratic Donkey makes an informal call at the White House.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-12-25

Theodore Roosevelt grimaces in anger with both arms raised. He is wearing Uncle Sam’s clothes, who is running off in a barrel to hide his nakedness. Also departing in fear are the Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey. Convention Number.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-06-19

Former Governor of Massachusetts, William L. Douglas, appears as a courtier, gesturing toward a woman labeled “Democratic Victory” on a bed “Asleep Since 1892,” and asking Oscar W. Underwood, Woodrow Wilson, Champ Clark, and Judson Harmon which has “a better chance of waking her.” Douglas holds a shield with the message “Record: Tariff reform Democrat. Elected Governor of Massachusetts by 35,995 when Roosevelt carried that state against Parker by 92,076.” A lady-in-waiting, the Democratic donkey, has fallen asleep at the foot of the bed. The room is filled with cobwebs labeled “Defeat in 1896, Defeat in 1900, Defeat in 1904, [and] Defeat in 1908,” and is becoming overgrown with tree roots.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-06-19

A nurse labeled “Mack” opens a window to the “Democratic Maternity,” outside of which are several storks carrying newborns labeled “Gaynor, Bryan, Douglas, Harmon, Clark, Wilson, [and] Underwood,” as well as what appears to be the Democratic donkey.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-06-26

A cartoon adaptation of Sir Edwin Henry Landseer’s 1844 painting, also titled “The Challenge.” The cartoon depicts a bull moose challenging a donkey and an elephant.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Creation Date

1912