Foraker, Joseph Benson, 1846-1917

Governor of Puerto Rico Hunt reports that after a conference, the government of Puerto Rico believes it is fair to express confidence in Commissioner of the Interior William H. Elliott to replace A. R. Cruzen as Collector of Customs. Should Elliott be chosen, and Regis Henri Post replaces Elliott, everyone agrees that Edward S. Wilson should be made auditor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-01-05

A woodpecker with the face of Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker uses an “anti-trust amendment bill” to peck at a sign that reads, “Sherman anti-trust law—Iron clad. Cannot be punctured.” President Roosevelt rushes away from the United States Capitol building and toward the woodpecker with his gun.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-20

President Roosevelt goes to light a “Post Office scandal” stick of dynamite as three men—New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt, Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna, and Pennsylvania Senator Matthew Stanley Quay—tell him to stop. Meanwhile, “Miss Democracy” looks on while Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker rides in on a fire wagon. Caption: Chorus from the doorway: “Don’t do it, Teddy! It is dangerous!”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-07-03

In the first vignette, President-elect William H. Taft walks into the “White House” and waves good bye to President Roosevelt who carries his big stick. In the second, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks walks away from the “Capitol” holding a jar of “buttermilk” and “to Indiana.” In the third, New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt sits at an “Express Co.” desk and writes “memoirs.” In the fourth, Colorado Senator Henry Moore Teller walks out of the Senate saying, “I’ve been there 30 years.” Caption: Senator Teller will take a rest. In the fifth, Secretary of State Elihu Root sits down in a chair labeled “New York Senatorship” and says, “I guess I’ll take it easy now!” In the sixth, Philander C. Knox climbs into a “State Dept” chair. In the seventh, Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker holds a “lawyer” piece of wood and walks “to Cincinnati.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

A month before the change of administrations in Washington portended at least one change in St. Louis too: The Republic’s cartoonist Edward Joseph McBride drew a cartoon about national affairs that was not typically partisan or bitter.

President Roosevelt wears an olive branch crown and rides in a chariot followed by “Trusts,” “Morgan,” “Foraker,” “Bryan,” “Rockefeller,” “Tillman,” “Harriman,” “Haskell,” “Hearst,” “Pulitzer,” “Congress,” a “stork,” “undesirable citizens,” “grafters,” “muckrakers,” and “nature fakirs.” A dove tries to escape the “peace” cage.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt drew to a close — seven years and several months, instead of the normal eights years, as Roosevelt assumed office upon the death of President William McKinley — cartoonist Jay N. “Ding” Darling drew a valedictory summation of the president’s triumphs.

Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna is tied to the ground and has an “Ohio State Convention” funnel in his mouth. President Roosevelt holds a “Roosevelt indorsement” hose that Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker is about to turn on. Caption: Roosevelt to Foraker—”Turn on the water, Joe.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Stewart presented a rather hyperbolic depiction, yet basically accurate as to the issues, of the recent “dirty laundry” within the Republican Party over President Theodore Roosevelt’s potential re-nomination a year after the cartoon’s publication; and Senator Mark Hanna’s ill-concealed ambition for the presidency.

Ohio Senators Marcus Alonzo Hanna and Joseph Benson Foraker both try to drive the Republican elephant. Foraker points toward the “immediate endorsement entrance” that has a sign: “to the Roosevelt enclosure.” A little raccoon says, “Come on!!” Hanna points to the “later endorsement entrance.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The early, political-cartooning period, of the great American comic-strip artist Charles M. Payne is unjustly neglected by historians. Payne possessed a wonderful comic style that invited readers’ eyes into his compositions, and filled his drawings with masterful caricatures and distinctive shading. In this cartoon the cross-hatching, shading, lettering, and perspective make the cartoon interest before the concept is appreciated.

Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker pulls a rope attached to the “Roosevelt tackle” that has Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna on it. Hanna holds a “presidential boom” sack and is headed for the “haymow” in the “Ohio G. O. P. farm.” There is a weather vane on the barn with an elephant that says, “Roosevelt 1904.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The Democratic paper The Cleveland Plain Dealer took delight in addressing the internecine fights within the Republican party nationally, as well as one of the centers of the party’s power and influence, its one state of Ohio. In 1903 there was the somewhat unusual situation of two United States senators of the same party, rivals within the state — not in itself rare — but each with presidential ambitions.

Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna hands President Roosevelt an “endorsement” bouquet as he looks at Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker. On the wall is an “Ohio Convention” banner.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As the chief political cartoonist with the prominent Democrat newspaper the New York Herald, W. A. Rogers, a veteran who had drawn, since the 1870s, for the New York Daily Graphic, for Harper’s Weekly, and for Puck magazine, he was a past master at invective and critical commentary. Indeed many of his cartoons for the Herald were strongly partisan. But he frequently drew editorial cartoons — that is, illustrating news of the day and current events — with no overt efforts to attack or persuade. The Herald, which published weekly national editions, perhaps sought in those editions’ cartoons, to be less partisan as readership was more diverse.

President Roosevelt holds his big stick and runs toward Joseph Pulitzer and Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker who hold morning star clubs labeled “Panama” and “Brownsville” respectively.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon was drawn by the Tulsa World‘s obscure cartoonist surnamed Allen, surely not Clarence Allen, the paper’s later and longtime political cartoonist, who would have been about ten years old at this time. (Yet, his father worked for the World…) Its date suggests that President Roosevelt was about to do battle with two threatening foes, publisher Joseph Pulitzer and Senator Benson Joseph Foraker (Republican of Ohio).

Ohio Senator Theodore E. Burton looks at Charles Phelps Taft who appears forlorn as President-Elect William H. Taft pulls at a string tied to Charles Taft’s coat. Charles Taft says, “I guess I’ll be goin’!” Beside Taft and Burton is a bubble with several men fighting in it and a sign that reads “Ohio Senatorial Field.” Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker runs away. Caption: What was expected.

comments and context

Comments and Context

For years the state of Ohio was known as the Mother of Presidents (and vice presidents, and presidential candidates), rival only to Virginia, especially in the years between the Civil War and, roughly, World War I. The 1920 presidential contest featured the unusual circumstance of two Ohio newspaper owners running against each other.

President Roosevelt wears a mask and sits at a desk with Secret Service reports. On the wall are “Rogue’s Gallery no. 1–Members of Congress,” a “list of undesirable citizens–Harriman, Rockefeller, Foraker, Haskell, and Tilman,” and a March 1909 calendar. On the other wall is a sign–“Old Sleuth Hawkshaw & Co.: Private Investigations. Shadowing”–and some disguises, including “mollycoddle masks,” “Ananias masks,” “malefactors of great wealth,’ and a coat “for the frivolous judge disguise.” On the ground are “gum shoes” and a “Muck Rake” cat.

comments and context

Comments and Context

As President Roosevelt’s term drew to a close, many Democratic cartoonists who had routinely criticized him continued without abatement. Other partisans seized the opportunity to increase their level of bitterness and ridicule while he was on his way out.

In the upper left, there is a “coat of arms.” There is a gloved hand holding a lantern above a banner that reads, “I turn on the dark lantern.” Underneath is a masked, bearded face and a big stick breaking a pitchfork. The coat of arms says, “All men are liars.” In the upper right, Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker holds a President Roosevelt doll. Caption: Foraker takes his turn. On the bottom, South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman uses his pitchfork to remove the lid of the “White House” pot. Caption: Tillman threatens to lift the lid.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Floyd W. Triggs, in the short-lived New York Press, tried his hand at a “turn-about” cartoon then popular as a genre with political cartoonists of the day: unlikely scenes, unexpected results, and so forth. His focus in this cartoon, drawn as the Administration of President Roosevelt was in its last weeks, was on the general theme of the president and his opponents, and his ready tendency to brand people as liars.

President Roosevelt is teaching in a schoolroom of chaos as President-elect William H. Taft opens the “Congress” door. The “House Resentment Committee” throws items at the president who holds his big stick. There are two notes on the blackboard: “Our teacher is no good. B. T.” and “Do we love our Teacher?” Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker and South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman fold paper airplanes while Maine Senator Eugene Hale tries to take a “naval appropriations” stick. Caption: Getting square with the old teacher.

comments and context

Comments and Context

President Roosevelt might go down in posterity as a strict disciplinarian, and he did deserve many of the characterizations of his leadership talents. But many presidents have endured Congresses that, collectively and in its individual members, asserted their independence, sometimes outright rebellion, even regarding a president of the majority’s party.

President Roosevelt fires his “no. 2 for birds” shotgun at a “Panama lyre-bird” (Joseph Pulitzer) in the African wilderness. Meanwhile, a “Congress” lion and “Foraker & Brownsville” hippopotamus stay in the background. Roosevelt is surrounded by his big stick–“for fighting at close quarters”–a typewriter, a notebook, a wireless box, a camera, a “no. 6 for lions etc.” gun, a toothbrush, and a book entitled “Wild Animals and Their Habits.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon represents a fair summary of Theodore Roosevelt’s last months in office. He was wildly popular throughout the country, and by common consensus he could have been renominated by the Republican Party if he had not renounced interest on election night of 1904. And even as some Democrats urged him to run again, and recognized that their platforms and Roosevelt’s policies were consanguine, he could have been confident of reelection.

Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker raises an “amendment” toward President Roosevelt. Foraker is behind a small hill that has the sign of “Foraker’s Forte” with a “Brownsville Affair” flag. Roosevelt fires his revolver in his left hand and holds a “special message” sword in his right hand as he says, “Surrender, haul down that flag!!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

James Calvert Smith, one of the most consistent harsh critics of Theodore Roosevelt during the president’s second term, is a frequent presence in the cartoon-clipping scrapbooks kept by the White House. Almost month by month, even as his opprobrium remained steady, as drawing style improved — compositions, caricatures, techniques like shading and lettering. He would soon leave the ranks of political cartooning, however, and (as “Calvert”) become a popular magazine gag cartoonist, mostly for Judge magazine.

President Roosevelt cleans Joseph Pulitzer in a “reform” washtub. Around Roosevelt is a basket of “more rascals.” There is also a globe, “Congressional rascals,” Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, and three newspapers–“N. Y. World,” “Indianapolis News,” and “disreputable journalism.” In the back are men hanging on the clothesline: Edward Henry Harriman, “trusts,” “Post Office rascal,” “lumber rascal,” “coal rascal,” and “political rascal.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

As habitual opponents of President Roosevelt among political cartooning’s ranks drew summations of the controversies, enemies, and issues of the administration during its last weeks, so did supporters. Their cartoons similarly provide future researchers with virtual checklists of the disputes and rivalries that often underpinned the notable news headlines.

A man rows a boat on tempestuous water with Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell, and T. Coleman Du Pont. President Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan stand on a cliff on the edge of the water.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist W. A. Rogers cleverly translated a major political scandal of the 1908 campaign in one drawing, and scored with a pun in its title, no less clever. The one element that he and his employer, the New York Herald, likely felt constrained not to include was the source of the apocalyptic events depicted: publication of the “Archbold Letters.”

President Roosevelt holds several letters in his hands and others are around him: “weekly sermon to voters,” “why Taft should win,” “credentials for Crane,” “5000 words of abuse of Bryan,” “letter ordering dismissal of Du Pont,” and “letter denouncing Foraker.” Roosevelt says, “This is my heir, my campaign, my man, the the best friend labor ever had.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Although William H. Taft was the Republican presidential nominee in 1908, in the last two months of the campaign, political cartoonists generally focused on the incumbent president, Theodore Roosevelt — alone, as an actor, and in opposition to Democrat William Jennings Bryan — more than on Taft. The reasons for this were simple, and many: Roosevelt remained popular, possessor of great public interest and affection; it was his “My Policies” that formed the nub of campaign debates and proposals; and increasingly injected himself in to the campaign. It easy to overlook, but cartoonist Edward Joseph McBride subtly characterized the Roosevelt-Taft relationship by depicting a small and supine Taft in the shadows, tethered and behind Roosevelt.

Crowds cheer from the stands with the labels of “West,” “North,” and “East” and William H. Taft rushes with the football of “Roosevelt policies” down the field. Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell is carried off the field on a stretcher asking, “Whazza matter. Am I hurt?” Meanwhile on the field, President Roosevelt tackles William Jennings Bryan by the head as Thomas Louis Hisgen, Eugene W. Chafin, and Eugene V. Debs huddle on the field: “What are we going to do about it?” Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker stumbles off the field on crutches.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Many political cartoonists of the Theodore Roosevelt era attempted to capture and communicate multiple issues of various complexity in one drawing. These genre drawings putatively laid many topics and personalities before readers, and perhaps were meant to summarize recent political developments. The mode required ambition and skill; some, like John T. McCutcheon and Jay N. “Ding” Darling, were masters, and thereby built foundations of their longevity and fame. Many political cartoonists who live in obscurity today managed the challenges poorly.