Johnson, Tom Loftin, 1854-1911

Former Ohio Governor Herrick sincerely appreciates the duplicate letter President Roosevelt sent. Herrick says he would have accepted the position offered, but felt obligated to defeat Tom Loftin Johnson then, and feels sure Theodore E. Burton can do the same now. He asks to delay the meeting Roosevelt requested in order to attend the dedication of the McKinley memorial in Canton, Ohio.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-17

Myron T. Herrick believes Representative Theodore E. Burton can defeat Cleveland Mayor Thomas L. Johnson, and that this victory will assist Secretary of War Taft. Herrick will be in New York and would like to tell President Roosevelt in person how he influenced his friends on the court to vote in favor of the state endorsing Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-01

Representative Burton faces “overwhelming pressure” to run for mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, and wants William Loeb and President Roosevelt’s opinion on the matter. He lists the arguments favoring the decision.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-28

The “Anti” press has reemerged and is extolling the virtues of Tom Loftin Johnson. Requests are also being made for the removal of Secretary of War Elihu Root for “upholding brutalities” in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-09-25

William Jennings Bryan, as Moses, beams rays of “Radicalism” and “Conservatism,” and holds his own version of the Ten Commandments. Among the small group of followers in the background are James K. Jones and Tom Loftin Johnson.

comments and context

Comments and Context

On August 30, 1906, the twice-rebuffed Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan ended the months of speculation about his intentions for 1908. He and surrogates, since he returned from a lengthy world tour, and teased — albeit with little subtlety — about his habitual ambition to be president.

A large group of politicians and journalists appear as knights on a crusade against graft and corruption. Many carry large pens like a lance. Periodicals mentioned are “Colliers, Harper’s Weekly, Life, Puck, [and] McClure’s” Magazine. Caption: Marching embattled ‘gainst the Saracens of Graft.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon by Carl Hassmann, which resembles a poster, could indeed be a historian’s guide to the leading crusading Muckrakers of the day (circa 1906, the high-water mark of reform before the Progressive Era and certainly in journalism and books). The double-page cartoon is a panegyric to the movement, a paean to the personalities.

An elderly woman labeled “Democracy” stands next to a trunk labeled “Old Issues” and with a tag that states “To the White House.” Standing at the curb are several cab drivers labeled “Parker, Olney, Johnson, Shepard, Gorman, [and] Watterson” hoping to pick up a fare, and two other drivers labeled “Cleveland” and “Bryan” sitting on their carriages. Cleveland does not appear interested, though Bryan, on his cab labeled “16 to 1,” holding up his hat, calls out above the others.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Political cartoons, when well designed, not only present issues and events clearly, but also convey subtexts, background information, and nuances that speak to readers of their time, and to subsequent students of history.

An old woman labeled “Democratic Party” turns a wheelbarrow to dump politicians labeled “Bryan, Olney, Gorman, Hill, Shepard, [and] Johnson” into a sandpit labeled the “Democratic Dumping Ground” where only the feet of other, previously discarded, Democrats are visible.

comments and context

Comments and Context

What makes this cartoon particularly interesting to students of history is that the cartoonist Pughe was not criticizing Democrats from “across the aisle” or from an adversarial point of view. Puck Magazine was Democratic, and beseeched its own leaders, or moss-bound leaders of recent years, to clean house. Except for Grover Cleveland, there had been no Democratic president since before the Civil War. It is interesting that the cartoonist did not even label the politicians’ issues that failed to excite voters (free trade, bimetallism, anti-expansion), suggesting the leaders themselves had worn out their welcomes. Even Tom Johnson, reform mayor of Cleveland, is among the deplorables in Pughe’s cartoon.

President Roosevelt’s vigorous treatment of current issues leaves his opponents nothing to stand upon. Here, Roosevelt moves pieces of lumber, leaving his opponents to fall off the path.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-09-21

President Roosevelt walks off with a fishing pole over his shoulder, carrying a bucket labeled Tariff Reform Bait, as Tom Johnson and William Jennings Bryan, who have their poles crossed in the Presidential Fish Fond, watch him with dismay.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904

A number of pins in the shape of various presidential candidates are in the “1904” pincushion: David B. Hill; Arthur P. Gorman; Chicago mayor Carter H. Harrison; Cleveland, Ohio, mayor Tom Loftin Johnson; and President Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-04-10

President Roosevelt congratulates Senator Hanna and believes that no victory was more important in the last election than the one secured against Tom Johnson in Ohio.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-11-08

Lieutenant Governor Guild tells President Roosevelt that Massachusetts is looking good for his eventual success, but that within the state there is a bitter struggle. Nevertheless, Guild is confident of victory. Guild encloses a letter from J. William Randall, who he vouches for as a respected citizen, petitioning on behalf of his son in the army who he claims is being persecuted. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Robert B. Armstrong has irritated many people in Massachusetts due to a ruling he made related to the Art Museum of Boston and import duties. He hopes Roosevelt will be able to address this issue when the election is over, as it is making the Republicans unpopular.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-18

Senator Lodge responds to an earlier letter from President Roosevelt. Lodge comments that there is not much of a reason to include a comment on immigration in the platform as there is currently not a demand for it, and it may do more harm than good. Lodge also discusses some of the hearings that the Interstate Commerce Commission has held, and remarks that his only concern in the upcoming election is the reduction in force by the railroads.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-27

Leslie’s Weekly refutes the idea published in Harper’s Weekly that the Republicans will be in a weak position in the 1904 election. Especially in light of Tom Loftin Johnson’s “tomfoolery” in Ohio and Nebraska’s support of the free-silver platform, the Democrats do not have a chance in the election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-17

The “Democratic Tower of Babel” features a number of Democratic hopefuls for the presidency. Alton B. Parker, William Jennings Bryan, holding a “commoner 53 cent a year” paper, and David B. Hill who wears a “I am a Democrat” feather are on the left of the tower. Cleveland Mayor Tom Loftin Johnson and Maryland Senator Arthur P. Gorman, who tries to catch a “bee,” are in the center. Grover Cleveland sits at the top of the tower with “lunch” and “bait” and tries to catch a boot that Henry Watterson holds up.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11

An article in The American Review of Reviews reflects on the current political situation in Congress, especially lamenting that both houses are controlled by powerful cliques who work in their own interests, often at the expense of legislation that would benefit the people. In particular, tariffs and appropriations for the construction of battleships are discussed. The author also speculates about the outcomes of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and the upcoming presidential campaign, as well as the necessity of a good man to run the Republican convention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-21

An editorial congratulates the Cleveland Gazette, a prominent African American newspaper, for its role in Theodore E. Burton’s electoral defeat and theorizes that the African American vote was crucial for Tom Loftin Johnson’s reelection as mayor.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-17

An ark labeled “Democratic Principles” has run aground in the receding waters of the flood near a landscape labeled “Republican Power.” The ark is full of Democrats labeled “Wilson, Parker, Watterson, Shepard, Johnson, Owen, Gray, Havens, Harmon, Tillman, Clark, Mack, Williams, Gore, Folk, [and] Gaynor.” Flying toward the ark is the Democratic donkey as a dove carrying a large tree branch labeled “Democratic Victories, Revolt Against the Tariff, [and] Reduced Republican Majorities.” Caption: It ought to be obvious by this time that the waters are receding.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-10-19

William Jennings Bryan as Orpheus, singing and playing a lyre labeled “Harmony,” attracts a motley group of wild animals identified as: G. Gray, Kern, Folk, Gompers, McCarren, Mitchell, Hearst, Guffey, Watterson, Stone, Eliot, Williams, T. Johnson, Belmont, Sullivan, Pulitzer, Conners, Ryan, Parker, Murphy, and Johnson. One unidentified animal, similar to Williams, sits in a large tree, crawling through the branches above Bryan. Caption: Orpheus Bryan and the Democratic beasts.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Orpheus was not in the underworld, but cartoonist Udo J. Keppler made the dismal swamp seem almost as pleasant in this loosely constructed allegory. The portly and unheroic-looking William Jennings Bryan had a heroic task, nonetheless, to tame the various and potentially deadly creatures.