Hearst, William Randolph, 1863-1951

Eight men sleep in a bed with sweat on their forehead as they all dream about “third term sentiment.” The men include Ohio Senator Theodore E. Burton, Benjamin B. Odell, South Carolina Benjamin R. Tillman with a pitchfork, William Randolph Hearst, Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, Edward Henry Harriman, and John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil.

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Comments and Context

The “Third Term” question was for President Roosevelt like a bad penny or a stray dog that he could not shake. He declared on election night, 1904, that he would not stand for re-election in 1908. He made this clear to politicians and friends and, by implication — for instance, by promoting William H. Taft as a favored successor — but seldom reasserted his intentions to the public. He felt that to say it too often — and the demands to do so were incessant — would have weakened the force of the declination or seemed like “protesting too much.” He said it, and that should have been enough.

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.

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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.

Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon says, “Tariff revision or an extra session!” in one cartoon. The next includes a teddy bear and President Roosevelt reading a paper that says, “Mr. President: Anything you say goes! California.” Another cartoon depicts a government clerk holding a bag that says, “50% salary increase” while Uncle Sam says, “And more if necessary.” The next cartoon depicts William Jennings Bryan saying to William Randolph Hearst, “After you, my dear Willie!” with a sign that reads, “To presidency.” Another one shows South Carolina senator Benjamin R. Tillman depicted with a pitchfork walking toward the White House with a dove of peace. Finally, the last cartoon depicts Senator Joseph Benson Foraker with a sign that says, “Reenlistment” in front of a group of soldiers labeled, “25th Infantry” — the black regiment at the center of the Brownsville Incident.

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When cartoonist Clifford Kennedy Berryman switched, shortly prior to this drawing’s publication, from the Evening Star from the Washington Post, his drawing style improved: a better ability to capture celebrities’ likenesses to place atop little bodies. This cartoon fell back on the erstwhile cartoonists’ annual chestnut — a reliable theme to use once a year, the Valentine cards for politicians — either dream-fantasies or the unlikeliest of scenarios.

President Roosevelt holds his hands back and sweats as he watches a fight in “New York” that includes a Republican elephant, a Tammany tiger, William Randolph Hearst, Charles Evans Hughes, and the “Independence League.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-31

William Jennings Bryan gives a “Big Bryan Boom” bouquet to President Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst. Bryan says, “Gentlemen, I hardly know which to thank for this.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-24

Thomas E. Watson, William Randolph Hearst, and William Jennings Bryan push a wagon full of bricks—”free silver,” “government ownership,” “anti-imperialism,” and “populism”—on a rocky road. It is driven by a donkey that sits down and says, “I must sit down on this push.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-27

In the first vignette, Alton B. Parker knocks on the door of August Belmont. Caption: Mr. Parker—”Did I understand that there was a $50,000 job vacant around here?” In the second, Henry Gassaway Davis holds a large money barrel while President Roosevelt walks away with West Virginia woman. Caption: At last reports Uncle Henry Davis was still holding his own. In the third, “Dr. Bryan,” “Dr. Hearst,” and “Dr. Watson” all attempt to doctor a bandaged Democratic donkey. Caption: The Doctors—”Cheer up, we’ll begin work on you again.” In the fourth vignette, William Preston Harrison walks from the “West Side” to the “North Side.” Caption: William Preston Harrison leaves from again. In the fifth, Parker stands beside William H. Douglas who holds a sign with a shoe on it that reads, “It pays to advertise.” In the sixth, Chicago Mayor Carter H. Harrison stares at a sign that reads, “Wisconsin for Roosevelt . . . 50,000—Illinois for Roosevelt . . . 230,000—Indiana for Roosevelt . . . 60,000.” Caption: The states he promised Parker.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-10

The writer of an editorial expresses support for a speech in which Isthmian Canal Commission Chairman Theodore P. Shonts suggested naming the completed interoceanic canal in Panama the Roosevelt Canal. President Roosevelt has been a champion of the canal as vital to the carrying out of the Monroe Doctrine since he was governor of New York, and as President he is its most powerful supporter. Other editorials on the page discuss the political situation in Chicago and William Randolph Hearst’s attempts to settle the disputed New York City mayoral election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-13

President Roosevelt writes his son Kermit about journalists and newspapers that attack him, naming William Randolph Hearst specifically. He talks about a lunch with the “tennis cabinet” where a trophy was presented to Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon. Roosevelt closes with news from Ted and Archie.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1907-11-14

President Roosevelt writes his son Kermit to report on victories for the Republican Party in the last elections, especially beating William Randolph Hearst in New York State. Roosevelt and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt are traveling to Panama, and Ted has come home from Harvard due to abscesses on his leg.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1906-11-07

Two Martians, one holding a telescope and yawning, express relief now that the election for governor of New York has been decided (in favor of Charles Evans Hughes). In the background, on planet Earth, fireworks mark the celebration in New York. Caption: The Martians — Yag be thanked, it’s all over! We can get a little sleep now that we know how the New York election came out.

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Comments and Context

Puck perennially faced the challenge of addressing current events, and its readership expecting pertinent commentary, when the exigencies of deadlines — planning, writing and drawing, printing, distribution — sometimes meant that issues actually were prepared ten days or so in advance of the cover dates. It was only a real problem at election times.

William Randolph Hearst wears the clothing of past presidents as he embarks on a campaign for the presidential election in 1908. He is wearing Washington’s shoes, Lincoln’s pants and whiskers, Jefferson’s coat and wig, and Jackson’s hat. Next to him are boxes and trunks labeled “Old Hickory’s Hat Box,” “Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution,” and “T. Jefferson.” Standing in the background is Hearst’s right-hand man, Arthur Brisbane — editorial writer for the Hearst newspaper chain, and editor of several of its newspapers. Caption: “We will succeed if we walk straightly along the path where Washington and Jefferson and Jackson and Lincoln have walked before us.”

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Comments and Context

Williams Jennings Bryan had recently made official his intention to secure the Democrat presidential nomination in 1908, at a speech in Madison Square Garden. But newspaper publishing titan and New York congressman William Randolph Hearst kept his own ambitions warm.

William Randolph Hearst accepts opium from Arthur Brisbane and, while in a drug induced state, dreams of the state house in Albany, New York, and the White House in Washington, D.C.

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Publisher William Randolph Hearst, the fabulously wealthy yellow journalist and Congressman from New York City, is depicted on the joss couch in an opium-induced fantasy. Supplied by Arthur Brisbane, his right-hand and chief editorial writer, he dreams of electoral vistas in Albany and Washington, D.C.

William Randolph Hearst paints a donkey yellow from a bucket of paint labeled “Riot & Rottenness.” He holds the donkey by a bridle labeled “Dem. State Machine.” A dog, with the countenance of Hearst’s able amanuensis Arthur Brisbane, plays Buster’s dog Tige in this cartoon.

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Comments and Context

Once the Yellow Journalist publisher and New York congressman William Randolph Hearst declared his interest in the 1906 gubernatorial contest as a Democrat, Udo J. Keppler and his Puck magazine fired weekly salvos against him.

William Randolph Hearst appears as Shakespeare’s Richard III in a dream-state when various ghosts appear before him. His armor hangs on a nearby wall in preparation for battle. The ghost of William McKinley speaks Clarence’s line, “Let me sit heavy on thy soul tomorrow!”

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Comments and Context

The most powerful indictment that Puck and cartoonist Udo J. Keppler could level against William Randolph Hearst in his quest to be governor of New York State appeared on the cover of the issue of election eve.

Vignettes show panels from comic strips featuring Foxy Grandpa, Alphonse and Gaston, Happy Hooligan and the donkey Maud, Buster Brown, and the Katzenjammer Kids, around a central panel with William Randolph Hearst, a candidate in the election for governor of New York, sitting on Maud, with clones of the “comic people” behind him.

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It might seem a cold day when a cartoonist contemplates the gubernatorial election of the godfather of the comic strip and foresees a dystopia, but that is how L. M. Glackens portrayed the campaign parade of William Randolph Hearst on election eve, 1906. That issue’s cover cartoon depicted publisher (and congressman) Hearst as a virtual murderer, but in the center spread’s glory, a grand parade of Hearst and, presumably, his most loyal or sole supporters, the stars of his Sunday comic supplements, march with him.

An old woman, known as “Madame Democracy Palmist,” reads William Randolph Hearst’s palm and speaks of the future. Caption: “You have reason to fear a large, dark man, who will shortly return from abroad!”

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Comments and Context

William Jennings Bryan had been on an extensive world tour through 1905-1906. The tour was largely forgotten by history, but Bryan met with many world and cultural leaders on these journeys. Since he was a party leader in the United States and always a potential president, leaders and monarchs generally were happy to meet the famous Bryan. He met with fewer heads of state than, perhaps, Ulysses S. Grant on his famous and extensive post-president tour, or than Theodore Roosevelt would meet in a few years after he left the White House, yet Bryan had significant discussions about international affairs, and cultural exchanges with such as Count Leo Tolstoy.

William Jennings Bryan, as Romeo, hangs off a balcony, speaking to an old woman labeled “Democracy” as Juliet, with “Nurse Grover” Cleveland standing behind her. The full moon in the upper left is labeled “Free Silver.” Standing in the bushes below is William Randolph Hearst. Caption: Romeo — Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear, that tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops- / Juliet — Oh, swear not by the moon, that twice inconstant moon! / Romeo — All right, I’ll cut it out! It’s a dead one anyway!

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Comments and Context

A sign of more literate times is this Puck cartoon based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. More than a riff on “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” cartoonist Udo J. Keppler assumes readers’ familiarity with other characters from the play, as well as current politics.

William Randolph Hearst, as “Tarquinius Hearst” carrying a stick labeled “Yellow Journalism,” sneaks into the “New York State Democracy.”

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Comments and Context

Puck magazine and its owner and chief cartoonist Udo J. Keppler traditionally borrowed from classical literature and opera for contextual motifs. This cover cartoon, however, required some knowledge of the minor Shakespearian canon.

William Randolph Hearst sits with two large, animated money bags resting on his lap, with arms and legs, and showing two large coins as heads. On the floor next to Hearst is a box labeled “WRH Ventriloquist.”

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Comments and Context

William Randolph Hearst was a phenomenon in American life for almost 65 years. His father George was a mining prospector whose discovery of silver, then gold, led to dominance in other fields, and lucrative investments in vast lands and livestock. George was elected Senator from California and presented his son “Willie” with the San Francisco Examiner as a plaything after the latter’s expulsion from Harvard.