Democratic Party (U.S.)

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!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

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.

comments and context

Comments and Context

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.

comments and context

Comments and Context

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

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.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

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.

comments and context

Comments and Context

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.

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

Three masts on a boat—”presidential ticket,” “New York state ticket,” and “congressional ticket”—were thrown off due to the “Roosevelt hurricane.” Charles A. Peabody and Patrick Henry McCarren hold onto the bottom of the New York state ticket mast by the “Democratic party” hold. Thomas Taggart, Alton B. Parker, and David B. Hill are in another hold.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-09

On the left side, Alton B. Parker stands in the front while David B. Hill, Patrick Henry McCarren, Thomas Taggart, and August Belmont are in the back. Caption: July: (veiled) Hist! Keep the push in the background. The people may get wise! On the right side, Hill, McCarren, Taggart, and Belmont stand in the front while Parker stands in the back. Caption: October: (unveiled): The people are wise. We might as well admit we are it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-28

“Missouri” stands in the “Republican column” with “New York,” “Penn.,” “Ohio,” “Illinois,” “Ind.,” “Wis.,” “Mich.,” “Mass.,” and “Iowa” and faces the “Solid South,” which holds a “Democratic column” banner. The footsteps make it clear that “Missouri” walked away from the Democratic column. A handwritten note is included: “Dear Mr. Loeb—Pls show this cartoon . . . to the president.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-10

Alton B. Parker—if elected president—sits with his would-be cabinet: “Thomas Taggart, Postmaster General,” “John Sharpe Williams, Attorney General,” “‘Bathhouse John,’ Secretary of Interior,” “William H. Devery, Secretary of Agriculture,” “Patrick H. M’Carren, Secretary of War,” “David B. Hill, Secretary of State,” “August Belmont, Secretary of Treasury,” and “Benjamin R. Tillman, Secretary of Navy.” Caption: The possible cabinet of white-winged souls who would get a job on Democratic success.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-26

Alton B. Parker hides underneath a bed and says, “I will speak.” “Miss Democracy” watches him as she knits. Caption: Miss Democracy—(After punishing her candidate for his anti-imperialistic language), No Alton, you must stay where you are. Silence in your case is indeed golden.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-18

Thomas Taggart points to a poster of John Griffin Carlisle and Grover Cleveland with the words, “Greatest Show on Earth.” Caption: Taggart (the new barker of the Democratic combination, pointing to the Carlyle-Cleveland poster): “Come one, come all! We still stand pat on the panic of ’93! We haven’t changed a particle, and our old friends are still with us! Don’t miss the exhibition!!”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-22

Chair of the Republican National Committee George B. Cortelyou and Chair of the Democratic National Committee Thomas Taggart roll barrels of money toward their respective party’s headquarters. Behind them is a doorway to “Wall St.” They tell each other, “There’s nothing in it.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-15