Hunting

Cecil Andrew Lyon congratulates President Roosevelt on his victory and updates him on the situation in Texas. Although the Republican vote was light in Texas, the typically enormous Democratic majority did not exist. When Lyon visits Washington, D.C., he plans to show Roosevelt what the Republican Party was able to accomplish in Texas. He also wants to know when Roosevelt is planning to visit Texas, how much time he plans to spend hunting, and if he would be willing to address two or three meetings in Texas.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-10

In the first vignette–“Opportunity No. 1,” President Roosevelt reaches out his hand to shake with the “Florida wild cat.” In the second–“Opportunity No. 2,” Roosevelt chases down the “Florida razor back” with a knife in his right hand and a spear in his left. In the third–“Opportunity No. 3,” Roosevelt holds a “Florida bear” at gunpoint. In the fourth–“Opportunity No. 4,” Roosevelt holds a “warrant” for the “Florida tiger.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

A few days into President Roosevelt’s hunting trip in Louisiana, midway in a swing through the Midwest and South, otherwise devoted to speeches and public appearances, the Florida Times-Union whimsically addressed the trophies that Roosevelt might bag, or miss. The hunting sojourn in Louisiana was between October 6 and 19, 1907, in the state’s iconic canebrakes, a swath of dense and dangerous vegetation and animal life that actually stretched from northern Florida, where its base was swampland, to Louisiana, where bayous contributed to the inhospitable environs. It was on the Mississippi-Louisiana border where the president had hunted the black bear, unsuccessfully, earlier in his presidency and from which experience grew the legend and popularity of the teddy bear.

Newspaper reporters, photographers, and cartoonists gather outside a forest with several signs: “Where the president was last seen,” “To the canebrakes,” and “Posted.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The day after the presidential hunting party was absorbed into the bayous and canebrakes of central Louisiana on what would be an extended black-bear hunt (October 6-19), Clifford Kennedy Berryman of the Washington Star vented the frustration of journalists and commentators that the object of their affection, or attention, would be off the boards.

President Roosevelt escapes into the canebrakes with his rifle and leaves a razorback hog, “3rd term talk,” howling and chained to a stake.

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Comments and Context

Ralph Wilder, successor of John T. McCutcheon the Chicago Record-Herald, seized upon President Roosevelt’s two-week hunt for black bears in the Louisiana canebrakes around Stamboul, to combine themes of the day: the hunt itself, Roosevelt’s previous and unsuccessful hunt, despite a bear being chained to a stake for his easy shot (refused), the contemporary “Nature Fakir” controversy, and the persistent talk of a third term for the president.

A group of grizzly bears get together. Some read “Nature Stories” and newspapers while others hold up signs: ‘We have survived a presidential outing,’ ‘Is the pen more pointed than the gun,’ “Would we rather be shot up or written down,” and “When it doubt, butt in.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Collier’s Weekly was inconsistent in its support of President Roosevelt; or at least was a reform-minded, sometimes Muckraking, and early insurgent in its editorial policies, but independent of both major political parties. Therefore it was never predictable whether the president would receive roses or thorns in its editorials and political cartoons.

In the first vignette, a man takes notes on animals, which all appreciate his observations and that he isn’t shooting at them. Caption: 1 — After you had studied wild animals for years — In the second vignette, a man takes pictures of animals, which are all willing to look good for the pictures. Caption: 2 — And photographed them — . In the third vignette, the man writes on a paper entitled, “Wild Animals By One Who Has Studied Them,” with two books — How to Observe Wild Creatures Without Killing Them and Nature Study vs. Animal Slaughter — on the ground. Caption: 3 — And written books about them — . In the fourth vignette, President Roosevelt with a “big stick” throws the man into a room with several others and says, “You’re a nature faker” amidst “the Persona Non-Grata Coterie.” Caption: 4 — If you suddenly found yourself disposed of as above? Wouldn’t it jounce you?

comments and context

Comments and Context

This strip, a reticulated political cartoon with an anti-Roosevelt message, appeared in the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst across the country. It was commentary of the moment — as the “Nature Faker” controversy of 1903 reasserted itself. It been brewing in articles and public debates between a group of authors and the naturalist John Burroughs.

President Roosevelt is on the hunt as a bear, a sheep labeled “the weakling,” and a rhinoceros labeled “new finance” run away while an octopus wrapped in a tree and a bull stay out of the way. In the background is a “muck rake” and a goat labeled “E.H.H.” on a mountain, “reserved for scape-goats.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

W. A. Rogers is a singular figure in American political cartooning. He never was a facile cartoonist or caricaturist, and his concepts seldom were persuasive; that is, the cartoons only mildly attacked or supported men and movements. For the most part he was more an editorial cartoonist, illustrating events and situations rather than attempting persuasion. This is one reason his cartoons illustrate more reference works today than many of his fellows. Yet he was highly regarded in his day, and worked for years at Harper’s Weekly and the New York Herald, substantial publications.

President Roosevelt leans against a tree with a rifle smoking in his hands looking dejected as a goat labeled “Harriman” bounds away. Caption: “Whereat I was much cast down.” — T. R., “Hunting Big Game.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Occasionally Theodore Roosevelt’s breeding and education opened him up to public jesting, not quite ridicule. When he dressed as a fancy “dude” and spoke with an affected accent in the New York Assembly, it was a subject of jest on the floor and in cartoons. As a rancher joining his cowboys during a cattle stampede, he urged others to “hasten forward quickly there,” and so forth.

President Roosevelt holds up an “Aldrich” bear club as he leans on a “Standard Oil Co.” rock.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-05

President Roosevelt points a gun at a “statehood bill” animal while a “Panama” alligator, a “R.R. rates” walrus, a “Philippine tariff” water buffalo, and a “Morocco” leopard look on.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-21

President Roosevelt pulls one football player off from another player. A group of “decent athletes” cheers. In the background is the “White House,” a dove carrying the “peace of Portsmouth,” a “hunting trophy,” “San Juan Hill,” “settling the coal strike,” “Panama,” and a “past performances” big stick. Caption: How the doctrine of the strenuous life goes hand in hand with the gospel of clean sport.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-11

A bandaged bear holds up a newspaper with the following heading: “Good News Convention—President’s Departure from Colorado—The end of the hunt—Peace in the mountains again—Animals are notified that the enemy has gone.” Several bandaged animals, including a snake, look on.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-21

President Roosevelt gives “Mae Wood”—the “cruel one”—and “Omaha” a wide berth as he walks back with his gun and “Skip.” In the background is a train filled with “bears,” “wild cats,” and “lions.” 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05

On the left side, German Emperor William II wears common attire. Caption: 1—If William should go hunting with Theodore. On the right side, President Roosevelt wears refined attire and holds the skin of an animal. Caption: 2—If Theodore should go hunting with William.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-18

President Roosevelt holds up two fingers and talks to his cabinet: Secretary of State John Hay, Secretary of War William H. Taft, Postmaster General George B. Cortelyou, Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw, Attorney General William H. Moody, Secretary of the Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock, Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, and Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor H. Metcalf. There is a bear skin with two holes on the wall.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-14

Secretary of War William H. Taft nails down “the lid” on a large box while he looks toward President Roosevelt who leads a procession of wagons with dead bears and animals.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05-09

President Roosevelt holds a rifle behind his back and reaches out to shake a bear’s hand. Caption: Meanwhile, other animals he has known are having a brief respite.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-04-22

President Roosevelt fires a revolver at a cougar and holds a wolf by its tail as he steps on a snake. There are a number of dead animals in the background as well as a wagon and several men who are throwing the carcasses into the wagon.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-04-13

President Roosevelt points a revolver at a bear as his horse steps on several snakes. Roosevelt also holds a wolf by a chain as William Loeb reads a “wireless message from the Czar of Russia.” 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-04

President Roosevelt wears several weapons and walks toward a number of wild animals. He leaves behind the “big stick” and several scrolls: “protocol,” “Santo Domingo treaty,” “report beef trust,” “Panama,” and “Venezu[ela] dispute.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-04-02