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“Dame Democracy” holds a “for political issues” basket and points an umbrella at “Panama” with a “canal route” as Uncle Sam looks on, pointing a finger at her. Caption: Dame Democracy—”Can’t I find an issue down here some place?” Uncle Sam—”What we want is a canal, madame, not a political issue!”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-01-09
Uncle Sam smokes a cigar and holds a “Panama Treaty” while he rides a Republican elephant that carries a pick, a shovel, and a “full” dinner pail. They are headed toward Panama as a woman labeled “the democracy” pulls at the elephant’s tail and says, “Woha thaar!”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-31
Arthur P. Gorman attempts to have one foot on the “Dem. nomination” donkey and the other on the “democracy” donkey as he attempts to juggle several balls and knives: “shrewdness,” “canal opposition,” “leadership,” “Negro question,” “popularity,” and “influence.” Caption: Signor Gormani in his astounding act of trying to bring two mules together going in opposite directions whilst performing a dangerous piece of juggling.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12
On the left side of the cartoon, a Republican elephant wears a “My Panama” hat and dances while holding a paper that reads, “Ha! Ha! If the Democracy defeats the treaty I’ll sweep the country next November!” Caption: “Publicly.” On the right side, the Republican elephant kneels beside “Miss Democracy” with a paper that reads, “Please don’t vote against the Panama Treaty. It would be suicidal!” Caption: “Privately.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-27
President Roosevelt, Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna, Arthur P. Gorman, Grover Cleveland, and David B. Hill stand under the “presidency 1904” mistletoe and look at “Miss Democracy” and “Miss Republican.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-25
A large “Roosevelt” flower in the “Republican political field” looks over the fence at the “Democratic political field” where a woman is looking at four different flowers that are all labeled “impossibility.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-09
William Jennings Bryan stands beside a Democratic donkey in a “Democratic field” and holds a paper that reads, “No man shall ride this animal in 1904 who did not vote for me.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12
Grover Cleveland looks at the “Dem Party” as they walk “to the White House.” New York Governor Benjamin B. Odell and New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt stand behind a tree and shine a flashlight.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-01
The “Democratic Tower of Babel” features a number of Democratic hopefuls for the presidency. Alton B. Parker, William Jennings Bryan, holding a “commoner 53 cent a year” paper, and David B. Hill who wears a “I am a Democrat” feather are on the left of the tower. Cleveland Mayor Tom Loftin Johnson and Maryland Senator Arthur P. Gorman, who tries to catch a “bee,” are in the center. Grover Cleveland sits at the top of the tower with “lunch” and “bait” and tries to catch a boot that Henry Watterson holds up.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11
A Republican elephant holds an “postal irregularities” apple to its mouth as a Democratic donkey looks on and salivates.
Clifford K. Berryman betrayed a partisan tilt, or least agreement with a Republican of view in this political cartoon that addressed the burgeoning Post Office scandal.
There was a passage in Mark Twain’s book Tom Sawyer Abroad — “There’s plenty of boys that will come hankering and groveling around you when you’ve got an apple and beg the core off of you; but when they’ve got one, and you beg for the core and remind them how you give them a core one time, they say thank you ‘most to death, but there ain’t a-going to be no core” — that, if not original with Twain, was popularized by him and was used in countless ways over succeeding generations. It was a clever to indicate that a party had no willingness to share.
President Roosevelt holds a “strenuousness” kit as he walks toward Washington, D.C. Behind him is a paper trail in the shape of “1904,” including “songs by the Roosevelt club,” endorsements, “presidential song as sung by the ladies glee club,” “come agains,” “Ohio endorsement,” “dedicated buildings,” “photos of the Yellowstone,” “photos of largest families,” and “addresses of welcome by Democratic mayors.”
A case of a cartoonist biting off more than he can chew is this drawing, which is likely by William Donahey (later cartoonist of the comic feature The Teenie Weenies), not at this point in his career, as proficient as later, or as his brother, the Cleveland Plain Dealer‘s chief political cartoonist J. H. Donahey.
President Roosevelt returned, at the time of this cartoon, from an extended tour of the Dakotas (including Dickinson and Medora, which was near the site of one of his old cattle ranches), Yellowstone Park and other pristine wonder lands, and speeches in Washington and Oregon.
This newspaper article states that President Roosevelt’s anchor rope is tied to the White House and that he gets closer each time he moves through the country with his speeches.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-04-25
William H. Taft and J. S. Sherman sit atop the Republican elephant that stands on a washed-out bridge with President Roosevelt. The “Democratic votes” river beneath them is rising as they look at Washington, D.C., in the background. Taft says, “What’s the matter, Teddy?” Roosevelt replies, “Never saw the river so high since Cleveland was elected!!”
Two days before national balloting for the presidency, Democratic political cartoonists like James Calvert Smith plied their trade, intending to persuade and encourage readers through wishful thinking more than policy prescriptions or party planks. Of course Republican cartoonists were doing the same thing; the practice was old as the profession itself.
Samuel Gompers and William Jennings Bryan bow to one another as President Roosevelt holds a paper that reads: “What are Mr. Bryan’s views on the injunction plan in the Democratic platform? T. R.” Gompers says, “Allow me to tell him what you believe in, my dear Alphonse!” Bryan replies, “‘Tis well! A thousand thanks, my dear Gaston.”
This is an early cartoon by McKee Barclay, one of two Barclay brothers who drew for the Sunpapers in Baltimore (his brother Tom also drew political cartoons, and to avoid confusion he often signed his drawings “Tom Bee.”). There are two keys to the cartoon that might unlock its meaning to readers of a later time.
President Roosevelt holds a “big stick business” and an “imperialism” crown and sits near the “increasing tide of Democratic strength.” William H. Taft, J. S. Sherman, and Roosevelt all say, “Go back!” William Jennings Bryan watches from afar: “Watch them get wet!”
King Canute, of Danish lineage and around 1027 A.D., is famous in legend for assembling his courtiers at a sea shore and commanding waves to cease breaking. Cartoonist James Calvert Smith was one of uncountable storytellers through the centuries who have subscribed to event’s ahistoricity; it seems that King Canute staged such a scene, but only to humbly illustrate that even a king had no control over forces of God and nature.
In the top left, John D. Rockefeller, pours “oil” down Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell’s throat as crowds cheer, “Standard Oil, dah-de! Dah! Bryan, Bryan–Rah! Rah rah!” and “Taft’s a big man–ump-ti-de-de! He’s the guy for the pres-i-den-cee!” John D. Archbold chases down Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker as Secretary of State Elihu Root runs into the fray. William Jennings Bryan fights William H. Taft supported by individuals in their parties: Charles Francis Murphy, Thomas Taggart, Henry Watterson, John W. Kern, Norman Edward Mack on the Democratic side and President Roosevelt, J. S. Sherman, Frank H. Hitchcock, and New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes on the Republican side. Uncle Sam referees.
This cartoon from the beginning of the last month of the 1908 presidential campaign offers a convenient summary of the major players, and a view likewise of the personalities involved the now nearly forgotten subplot that nearly overshadowed the main contest. The cartoonist is unknown, but the signature seems to be “Allen,” tempting one think it might be Clarence Allen, longtime political cartoonist of the Tulsa World but for the fact that he was ten years old when this cartoon was published.
President Roosevelt wears a life vest and pulls out rope from the “Administration’s Support” bucket to extend a “Hot Air” life preserver into the ocean of “Taft’s Campaign.” Assisting to let out the line are New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, Secretary of Commerce Oscar S. Straus, and Secretary of State Elihu Root. “Democratic Opposition” lightning strikes above.
By its masthead in 1908, the Rochester, New York, Union and Advertiser boasted of having the largest circulation in a relatively small market. The paper was established in 1826 as the Daily Advertiser and from 1856 as the Rochester [sometimes Daily in its title] Union and Advertiser, but was published fitfully. It major competitor was the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. In 1922 William Randolph Hearst invaded the market in a major way with his Rochester Journal. Cartoonist Philip W. Porter either drew for the Union and Advertiser and hopped to other cities in the region (his cartoons appeared in the Boston Traveler in 1910 and the Boston Traveler in 1913) or his work was syndicated.
Several men—David B. Hill, William James Conners, Charles Francis Murphy, William Jennings Bryan holding a “reform” paper, Roger C. Sullivan, Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell, and Alton B. Parker—read the handwriting on the wall: “(Extract from Taft’s letter of July 20-’07) I don’t care for the presidency if it has to come by compromise with Senator Foraker or anyone else in the matter of principle. Taft.” Caption: What a contrast.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-09-23
Uncle Sam sits on a fence and looks at nominees for president and vice-president of various parties: William H. Taft and J. S. Sherman of the Republican Party, William Jennings Bryan and John Worth Kern of the Democratic Party, Thomas E. Watson of the People’s Party, Eugene W. Chafin of the Prohibition Party, and Thomas Louis Hisgen of the Independence Party. Uncle Sam says to a teddy bear, “Well, they all know they’re it now!” The teddy bear replies, “But the worst is yet to come to most of ’em.”
Clifford Kennedy Berryman’s cartoon in the nation’s capital paper, and then the largest circulation in Washington, the Star, was virtually a capstone to the close of the four-year scramble for presidential nominations, and the opening start of the actual campaign. He depicted the major and relatively major candidates. Uncle Sam and the teddy bear mascot, and Berryman himself, commented on the universal smiles in the group; but that was likely due to the cartoonist’s famous reliance on available photographs, as to their optimism that provided the cartoon’s theme.
In the first cartoon, William H. Taft with a large “R” on his shirt charges ahead of Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, and New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes. Taft says, “They can’t catch me.” In the second cartoon, William Jennings Bryan with a large “D” on his shirt charges ahead of Minnesota Governor John Albert Johnson and George Gray. Bryan says, “What an easy snap.” Caption: Winners of the trial heats.
With two weeks to go until the Republican National Convention in Chicago, and another three weeks after that before the Democrats would gather in Denver to nominate their presidential candidate, cartoonist John Colman Terry dismissed the somewhat hyperbolic suspense that fellow artists invested in commentary about the nominations. Barring genuine surprises, two Williams — Taft and Bryan — would be their parties’ nominees.