Theodore Roosevelt sits on a bench, resting a mallet labeled “My Policies” on his right knee. A large jar labeled “Republican Convention,” which he has just corked, lies on the bench next to him. On shelves behind him are bottles that he has corked: on the bottom shelf Alton B. “Parker Esopus Pickle,” Cipriano “Castro” which has popped its cork, and “Portsmouth Peace”; on the middle shelf George B. “Cortelyou,” James Roscoe “Day,” Charles Evans “Hughes,” Joseph Gurney “Cannon,” Robert M. “La Follette,” “Chan”[…], Philander C. “Knox,” and [unlabeled] Charles W. Fairbanks; and on the top shelf “Bowen,” Chester I. “Long,” “Bellam[y] Storer,” Edward Henry “Harriman,” “J. London,” [and] “Seton Thompson” (i.e. Ernest Thompson Seton).
Comments and Context
“A perfectly corking time!” — very close to another joyful expostulation of the time, “BULLY!” This cartoon appeared just as the Republican presidential nominating convention gave its prize to William H. Taft, just as President Roosevelt had wished and hoped and manipulated for almost two years. His work to anoint a successor was often behind the scenes but also, as befit Roosevelt, could be quite open and public too.
Roosevelt, after seven and a half years, had mixed feelings about leaving the office at age 50, younger than many presidents were when they assumed the office. “No man,” he admitted and frankly asserted, “more thoroughly enjoyed being president as much as I did.” Yet the always-restless Roosevelt had immediate plans to explore “Darkest Africa” as few white men ever had done; and there beckoned uncountable activities including those he mastered before the presidency — historian, author, speaker, and so forth. Yet he would miss, and knew he would miss, being at the center of power, and influencing events as White House denizen.
