Gridiron Club (Washington, D.C.)

President Roosevelt tells his son Kermit Roosevelt that he gave a speech at the Gridiron Club, wherein he emphasized he would not run for a third term. Roosevelt discusses his recent exercise habits, noting that he doesn’t give it up “because I think I would ultimately be worse off without it.” Roosevelt says his sons Archibald B. Roosevelt and Quentin Roosevelt have built two fireplaces on the White House property, and have been cooking meals with them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-09

Senator Beveridge satirically describes to President Roosevelt the scene after Senator Joseph Benson Foraker was unusually “nervy” in response to Roosevelt’s address, most likely at the Gridiron Club Dinner at the New Willard Hotel. Beveridge points to the irony in journalist David Graham Phillips’s and Senator William Lorimer’s attack on his own comments about Foraker.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-27

Italian ambassador Edmondo Mayor des Planches requests the opportunity to meet with President Roosevelt, to present a set of books to him from Ulysse Chevalier of the Institut de France.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-01

J. Pierpont Morgan will be in Washington, D.C., for the Gridiron dinner. President Roosevelt should extend an invitation to Morgan to visit the White House.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-10

President Roosevelt holds a hot gridiron and runs after Senator Joseph Benson Foraker who is escaping through the Senate door. Meanwhile, Edward Henry Harriman runs toward a train to escape Roosevelt.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Albert J. Taylor of the Los Angeles Times (about whom little is known; he was overshadowed by fellow art staffers like George Herriman, future creator of Krazy Kat) managed several clever puns in one cartoon frame when he addressed the imbroglio at the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington D.C.

In the upper left hand corner, a man measures the door of the White House at five feet while Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks stands at six feet, four inches. In the upper right hand corner, Samuel G. Blythe, president of the Gridiron Club, stands as President Roosevelt and Vice President Fairbanks remain seated. In the lower left hand corner is a man dressed up as “Cuba,” and in the lower right hand corner Clifford Kennedy Berryman gives a chalk talk about the teddy bear with the caption, “Initiation Act.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The exigencies of newspaper publication deadlines seem evident in this cartoon. One of the most famous altercations of the American presidency — certainly the most contentious of a Washington D.C., institution, the annual Gridiron Club dinner — was depicted by an artist of the morning Washington Herald on the published date of the dinner. The anomaly is that the cartoon’s vignettes are presented as a round-up, but a cartoon drawn actually after the fact could not have avoided the tense confrontations at the dinner.

This cartoon includes depictions of a number of guests at the twentieth anniversary celebration of the Gridiron Club.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-09

President Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan sit on a gridiron held by a “Gridiron Club” hand over “wit” and “humor” flames.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-30

President Roosevelt writes to his son Kermit about his speech to the Gridiron Club. Though Roosevelt has a lot of work to do, he does not want to give up his exercise. He closes with a story about Archie and Quentin building a brick fireplace to cook on outside. Kermit appears to have written on the back of the letter.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1906-12-09

President Roosevelt tells Arthur I. Street that people should judge him based on his full seven and a half years in office, rather than on one speech, and so it does not make sense to try change Street’s friend’s opinion. However, he notes that the speech he gave, which was reported in the Washington Post, was one of his best. Had he known it would be published, he would have made sure a verbatim copy was made.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-09

President Roosevelt tells Ellery Sedgwick, editor of American Illustrated Magazine, that he did not know his speech of “the man with the muckrake” would be so popular and widely circulated. Roosevelt plans now to put his speech into a public form, but cannot give it exclusively to any magazine.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-05

Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt from January 1892 to December 1898. Notable events include the death of Elliott Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt is appointed New York City Police Commissioner, his tenure as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the Spanish-American War, and Roosevelt’s gubernatorial campaign.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association

Creation Date

1985

Theodore Roosevelt informs George von Lengerke Meyer that he declined the invitation to the Gridiron Club. He thanks Meyer for putting his carriage at Roosevelt’s disposal when he was in Washington, D.C., but he was sorry to miss Meyer and his wife. Roosevelt shares his concern about Henry Cabot Lodge.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1910-11-28

The Governor of Ohio is confident that the State’s delegates will support Roosevelt at the Republican National Convention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-04

Charles A. Carlisle congratulates President Roosevelt on his talk at the Gridiron Club. Carlisle assures Roosevelt that Indiana Republicans support his re-election. Carlisle also mentions that he expects to be a delegate at the Republican National Convention and pledges his support of Roosevelt’s nomination.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-02

Francis E. Leupp will soon be inviting President Roosevelt to the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club. He requests George B. Cortelyou’s help in keeping Roosevelt’s schedule open for that evening.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-12-24