Your TR Source
President Roosevelt sends a letter from J. H. Claypool as proof that John Worth Kern and John Edward Lamb are corporate lawyers, and asks Representative Sherman to make the information public.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-01
President Roosevelt appreciates J. H. Claypool’s positive news about Governor Charles Evans Hughes, but he can not stump during the campaign. The information about John Worth Kern and John Edward Lamb is interesting.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-10-01
President Roosevelt says he has received a letter from Dr. Albert Shaw explaining that he never said Roosevelt believes Cyrus Packard Walbridge to be a better candidate for Governor of Missouri than Joseph Wingate Folk. Roosevelt reproduces a part of Shaw’s letter for Robert J. Collier, which explains the situation. Roosevelt emphasizes that while Collier may show this correspondence to Norman Hapgood and Lincoln Steffens, he does not want the matter discussed in public and cannot understand how anyone could have misunderstood him in the first place.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-27
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-10
O'Laughlin, John Callan, 1873-1949
Samuel Krulewitch asks Theodore Roosevelt for a letter endorsing Louis S. Gottlieb for the position of Police Court Judge in Washington, D.C. Many prominent individuals support Gottlieb, one of the “best Jewish orators in this country.” Krulewitch understands that the Republican Party has yet to recognize a Jewish candidate.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-24
Lucius B. Swift conveys a request from Chinese Vice-Consul Kee Owyang to meet with Theodore Roosevelt for a few minutes when he visits San Francisco. Since the election in which John Worth Kern was elected Senator from Indiana rather than Albert J. Beveridge, Swift has considered it prudent to bide his time. He believes Beveridge would have been elected “except for the liquor people, who would sacrifice anything in order to sell more beer.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-02
William Dudley Foulke discusses the political situation in Indiana before Theodore Roosevelt’s trip to the state. He commends Roosevelt’s speech at Osawatomie, Kansas.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-09-13
Frederick L. Chapman, owner and editor of the Home Herald, and his readers commend William H. Taft’s position on the subject of personal temperance. However, the liquor interests claim he is friendly to their cause. Chapman warns that Taft will lose votes if this idea persists. The presidential and vice-presidential candidates’ religious status has become a significant factor in the campaign. As such, Chapman advises Taft to write a letter for publication, as the other candidates have done, stating his beliefs, and suggests a sample statement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-24
Albert Shaw attempts to set out, to the best of his understanding, the controversy surrounding President Roosevelt’s letters and the gubernatorial campaign in Missouri.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-26
Photograph shows 19 portraits of prominent orators (politicians and businessmen) superimposed over an audience comprised of men. Caption reads, “our prominent political orators in action. The efforts of these men will anchor the floating vote, make converts and win the election.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1908-08-29
President Roosevelt pushes off the “big stick” and says, “Don’t flinch; don’t foul” as he leans on Timothy L. Woodruff who leans on George Rumsey Sheldon who leans on Secretary of State Elihu Root who leans on J. S. Sherman who leans on Frank H. Hitchcock who ultimately leans on William H. Taft who is fighting against William Jennings Bryan. On the other side William Randolph Hearst pours a “Standard Oil” can and says, “I’ll make ’em slip.” Meanwhile, Norman Edward Mack leans against Herman Ridder who leans against William James Conners who leans against Charles Francis Murphy who leans against John Worth Kern who leans against Bryan. Uncle Sam referees.
It was impressive cartoon that readers of the Brooklyn Eagle beheld in the Election Day edition of the paper. It was, properly, not partisan or biased toward a candidate or party, published as it was on Election Day when political argumentation traditionally ceased.
William H. Taft and William Jennings Bryan race to the finish line in cars shaped like a Republican elephant and Democratic donkey respectively. “Trusts” are behind Taft in the car as President Roosevelt tries to jump in while John Worth Kern is behind Bryan. In the background “Standard Oil” says, “Rah! Rah! Brace up!” while a “farmer” and “businessman” cheer on Bryan’s car. Caption: The leading candidates and their friends are at the home stretch in the greatest game of them all.
The Atlanta Georgian‘s political cartoonist J. R. Willis drew an election-day cartoon that, for a brief moment at campaign’s close, was remarkably free of rancor.
In the top left, John D. Rockefeller, pours “oil” down Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell’s throat as crowds cheer, “Standard Oil, dah-de! Dah! Bryan, Bryan–Rah! Rah rah!” and “Taft’s a big man–ump-ti-de-de! He’s the guy for the pres-i-den-cee!” John D. Archbold chases down Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker as Secretary of State Elihu Root runs into the fray. William Jennings Bryan fights William H. Taft supported by individuals in their parties: Charles Francis Murphy, Thomas Taggart, Henry Watterson, John W. Kern, Norman Edward Mack on the Democratic side and President Roosevelt, J. S. Sherman, Frank H. Hitchcock, and New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes on the Republican side. Uncle Sam referees.
This cartoon from the beginning of the last month of the 1908 presidential campaign offers a convenient summary of the major players, and a view likewise of the personalities involved the now nearly forgotten subplot that nearly overshadowed the main contest. The cartoonist is unknown, but the signature seems to be “Allen,” tempting one think it might be Clarence Allen, longtime political cartoonist of the Tulsa World but for the fact that he was ten years old when this cartoon was published.
Uncle Sam holds a switch behind his back as William Jennings Bryan, President Roosevelt, Oklahoma Governor Charles Nathaniel Haskell, and John Worth Kern, who all have bloody faces, point at William Randolph Hearst, who has a bloody hand. Caption: “He began it, teacher.”
One of the hidden gems of the era’s political cartoons (1890s-1920s), and an unjustly obscure artist-commentator today, is W. A. Carson of the Utica Globe. The newspaper itself was a pioneer enterprise in American journalism, and is no less — and less unjustly — neglected today.
Uncle Sam sits on a fence and looks at nominees for president and vice-president of various parties: William H. Taft and J. S. Sherman of the Republican Party, William Jennings Bryan and John Worth Kern of the Democratic Party, Thomas E. Watson of the People’s Party, Eugene W. Chafin of the Prohibition Party, and Thomas Louis Hisgen of the Independence Party. Uncle Sam says to a teddy bear, “Well, they all know they’re it now!” The teddy bear replies, “But the worst is yet to come to most of ’em.”
Clifford Kennedy Berryman’s cartoon in the nation’s capital paper, and then the largest circulation in Washington, the Star, was virtually a capstone to the close of the four-year scramble for presidential nominations, and the opening start of the actual campaign. He depicted the major and relatively major candidates. Uncle Sam and the teddy bear mascot, and Berryman himself, commented on the universal smiles in the group; but that was likely due to the cartoonist’s famous reliance on available photographs, as to their optimism that provided the cartoon’s theme.
Moses C. Wetmore and Norman E. Mack carry a shoulder pole labeled “For Contributions” from which hangs a tiny bag. They explain to William Jennings Bryan, as Moses, seated with Henry Watterson, John W. Kern, and Alton B. Parker around him, that there is very little money flowing into the Democratic campaign coffers. Standing on the left are Thomas F. Ryan and Perry Belmont. Caption: And they returned after forty days, and they said unto Moses: “Surely it is a land flowing with milk and honey, but there is nothing doing in collections.”
Puck Magazine’s artists, and many cartoonists of the era, frequently relied on Biblical analogies and stories as contexts for their drawings; and mythology, operatic narratives, legends, and Shakespeare as well. “The Return of the Scouts,” with Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan as Moses, is based on the Book of Numbers, Chapter 13.
William H. Taft and William Jennings Bryan, as Native Americans, sit by their tepees. Taft is heating his full dinner pail over a small fire, and Bryan is beating on a drum labeled “Discontent.” J. S. Sherman and John W. Kern are sitting on the ground among a group of others standing in the background.
“Making Medicine” is the first major political cartoon in Puck by the illustrator and cartoonist Will Crawford who, like the magazine’s owner and chief political cartoonist Udo J. Keppler, was a proponent of Indian rights, a student of Native American lore, and eventually an honorary member of tribes. Frequently, therefore, Crawford used Native American traditions, customs, and dress in his cartoons; virtually never is disrespect.
An annoyed Uncle Sam sits against a full moon with his hands over his ears. He is caught between the noise of the “G.O.P. Salvation Army” with William H. Taft on the bass drum and James S. Sherman on the cymbals, and “The Bryan Volunteers of America” with William Jennings Bryan also on the bass drum, Samuel Gompers on the cymbals, John W. Kern singing, Alton B. Parker with a large bell, and Henry Watterson with a tambourine, among others. Uncle Sam has papers labeled “Agricultural Prospects” and “Industrial Reports” spread across his lap, “Crop Forecast” in his pocket, and is sitting on papers labeled “Resumption of Business.”
In 1880, Joseph Keppler, founder of Puck and father of Udo J. Keppler, who drew this cartoon, published a similar drawing of partisans of Ulysses S. Grant as the “Political Army of Salvation” — annoyingly singing, banging drums, and parading on behalf of a third term for Grant.
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.
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.
A hawk labeled “Teddy” flies over a frightened mother hen labeled “Democratic Party” and a group of chicks running for cover labeled “Gaynor, Dix, Kern, Foss, Bryan, Clark, Underwood, Wilson, [and] Harmon.” One chick, “Bryan,” is pulling on a long worm labeled “The Commoner.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1912-04-03