Democratic Party (U.S.)

William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, informs President Roosevelt of his concerns about a new order that gives congressmen hiring and firing power over rural postmasters. White is worried that politicians he considers corrupt, like Representative Justin De Witt Bowersock, will misuse the order to fire their political opponents. White is not as concerned that this power will be abused immediately under the Roosevelt Administration’s watch or by elected officials he finds upright, like Representative William Alexander Calderhead, but that it will be abused when the Roosevelt Administration is out of power or distracted. White asks Roosevelt to assure Calderhead that the editor holds him in high regard, as White worries a rumor has made Calderhead think White considers him as corrupt as Bowersock.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-19

Benjamin Ide Wheeler sends a lengthy excerpt from a letter written by Professor Mezes, a Democrat living in Texas. Mezes states the South will change its allegiance from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party due to changes President Roosevelt has made in the Republican Party.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-07

Armand Romain reminds President Roosevelt that last August, a committee of Republicans from Louisiana entered a formal protest against the “policy of inaction and of ostracism” adopted by the “Lilly White” leaders of the Louisiana Republican Party. Romain recounts the injustice and partisanship with which they lead the party, which has led to dismal election results. Some fear that the party is “in a state of complete demoralization and on the eve of annihilation,” and Romain and others hope to get some “word of encouragement and hope” from Roosevelt, as well as assistance if the party collapses. Still, Romain is hopeful, as there is a “strong change of sentiment” in Louisiana and in the South generally, in political matters, and people are beginning to believe the Democratic Party has “outlived its usefulness.” Romain reminds Roosevelt of his offer to consult both factions within the party when the time came, and Romain believes that the time is now. An announcement of Roosevelt’s proposed trip to the area “created an honest and hearty enthusiasm” among Republicans there.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-21

Cecil Andrew Lyon congratulates President Roosevelt on his victory and updates him on the situation in Texas. Although the Republican vote was light in Texas, the typically enormous Democratic majority did not exist. When Lyon visits Washington, D.C., he plans to show Roosevelt what the Republican Party was able to accomplish in Texas. He also wants to know when Roosevelt is planning to visit Texas, how much time he plans to spend hunting, and if he would be willing to address two or three meetings in Texas.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-10

Senator Beveridge congratulates President Roosevelt on his victory in the presidential election. He mentions he is visiting his mother, Francis Ellen Parkinson Beveridge, and that her county—and the county where he was raised—has always gone Democratic since Illinois became a state. However, in the 1904 election, it went to Roosevelt. Beveridge believes this is indicative of the entire nation, which wants Roosevelt and not necessarily the Republican Party. He knows that Roosevelt’s administration will accomplish great things and sends his regards to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-10

Jacob A. Riis thanks President Roosevelt for the invitation, but explains that he will be giving a speech and starting off on a lecture tour around that time. Riis has had to give up canvassing, as he “had come to the point where I felt that a blow was the only fitting argument, and I was not going to be quiet.” Riis previously thought Democratic presidential candidate Alton B. Parker was a decent man, but now doubts there are any such men in the Democratic party. He is glad to stand with Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-06

President Roosevelt holds a sack and has a sign tied around his neck, “Specials today: Inheritance Tax, Income Tax, Federal Control of Mineral Lands.” In the foreground a Teddy bear rips out pages of a “Democratic Recipe Book” while William Jennings Bryan says, “I always said he was a Democrat.” The cow beside Bryan says, “My book!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The Evening Star, consistently a Republican-leaning newspaper through its history (which mostly was in control of the Noyes family) made noise when it thought the party strayed from orthodoxy. Such was the case with this Clifford Kennedy Berryman cartoon of 1907, when many politicians and commentators noticed that President Roosevelt was adopting, or publicly considering, some radical policies.

William H. Taft stands with a gavel in his hand as the delegates select President Roosevelt as the nominee. In the audience are Secretary of State Elihu Root, Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, and New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes. A balloon in the top right-hand corner shows William Jennings Bryan and William Randolph Hearst holding signs that read, “Gov’t Ownership” and “Socialism” respectively as they step on Minnesota Governor John Albert Johnson.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Whether cartoonist Tyler McWhorter drew this cartoon as a prophecy or a hopeful dream, it was another cartoonist’s speculation on whether President Roosevelt would break his pledge of Election Night 1904 that he would not allow his name to be put into nomination in 1908. With its long caption, it also might have been an illustration for an article, or part of series. In any event the St. Paul Dispatch drawing was pasted in the White scrapbook, and presumably seen by the president.

“Democratic Ruth” looks at President Roosevelt labeled, “The Republican Boaz” who pushes a shredder attached to a tractor labeled “G.O.P.” in the “Democratic stubble-field.” In the shredder are “issues,” while in the background is a donkey that says, “Hurry Ruth. I’m starving.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Political cartoons usually are reliable and gifted windows to the past, as illuminating to students of later times as to contemporary readers. But occasionally, as windows, they are closed, or of dark glass through which one cannot see clearly. This cartoon by Kirk L. Russell is one such example, poor in theme (an Old Testament analogy, from the book of Ruth) and execution.

A “Republican steam shovel” with the face of President Roosevelt takes out several rocks: “Democratic opposition,” “political criticism,” and “rail-road obstructionists.” Several men watch, including Panama Governor Charles E. Magoon, John F. Stevens, Chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission Theodore P. Shonts, Joseph Bucklin Bishop, and Uncle Sam.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09

President Roosevelt receives a “Democratic nomination for president 1908” outside of the “Iroquois Club Chicago.” William Jennings Bryan, who has a “government ownership” paper in his back pocket, holds a “Democratic” woman as he looks askance.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-13

President Roosevelt shakes hands with William Jennings Bryan, who stands beside a shabbily-dressed  “Democratic” woman wearing attire labeled “Bryan’s coat.” Roosevelt holds a number of new, fancier, pieces of clothing, including a “federal license for corporations” dress, “Democratic principles” and “fixed rates” ribbons, “Sherman Law” shoes, and “anti trust law” and “anti rebate law” stockings.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-27

David B. Hill and “Aunty Democracy” stand behind “Parker—famous talking parrot.” “Roosevelt’s reply” is on the ground. Parker says, “The trouble with me was I talked too d-n much!” Caption: Aunty Democracy—Dave, you should never have taught that bird to talk.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11

Article marked titled, “Delay for Cuban Reciprocity.” Senator Gorman has consolidated the Democratic minority to oppose Cuban reciprocity, forcing the Republicans to agree to delay a vote for at least six months rather than face possible defeat of the reciprocity treaty. President Roosevelt intends to “keep the nation’s pledge” to Cuba and therefore plans to call for a special session later in the year to address the issue.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-13

Arguments against President Roosevelt breaking with the Republican Party over Cuban reciprocity.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902

This editorial from Leslie’s Weekly praises President Roosevelt’s letter of acceptance for the Republican Presidential nomination. It argues that the letter lays out the achievements and reasons to trust the Republican Party. It also gives reasons to distrust the Democratic Party. The newspaper calls Roosevelt and the letter “bold, decisive, direct, sincere, and fearless.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-22

Article defends President Roosevelt from attacks claiming he is against the 14th Amendment.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-14

This newspaper clipping from The Globe includes several marked articles. “The First Speech of Mr. Higgins,” describes a speech of Frank Wayland Higgins, New York gubernatorial candidate, in his hometown. “Very Queer Business” highlights the hysterical situation in the press surrounding Judge Alton B. Parker, as the newspapers seem to not trust Parker to act on his own “as a self-respecting man and leader of his party.” This stands in sharp contrast to the mood of the democratic campaign itself, which seems much more sanguine. Finally, “A Notable Accession” is a partial article highlighting the choice by Robert Treat Paine of Massachusetts, a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate, to vote for President Roosevelt rather than Parker.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-20

Theodore Roosevelt writes his son Kermit about the results of the 1912 presidential election and the future of the Progressive Party. He says he is content to never be involved in politics again.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1912-11-05

Theodore Roosevelt tells his son Kermit about what he is writing and reports that he is having trouble with his autobiography. He comments on the Progressive Party and says if President Woodrow Wilson does well and satisfies the Progressives, Roosevelt will not have to get involved in politics. Roosevelt gives updates on the family and the health of Mother.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1913-01-21