Kings and rulers

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

Unknown

Creator(s)

Island Curio Co.

Language

English

A “Bryanism” phonograph sends out several words to a dog with a “calamity” collar. The words are “free silver,” “hobknobbing,” “gov’t ownership,” “visions,” “hobnobbing royalty,” “crown of thorns,” “aunty,” and “study common people kings I have met.” Caption: —Adapted from a well-known ad.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-01-06

President Roosevelt wears “the mailed fist” and points at German Emperor William II wearing “the strenuous life” badge and his “grandfather’s sword.” The former stands on “Kiel,” while the latter stands on “Oyster Bay.”

Comments and Context

Through the years many observers, not least among them cartoonists, noted affinities or at least similarities between President Theodore Roosevelt and the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II. The theme was inviting: beyond moustaches, both men were pugnacious; had military associations; were historians and scholars; and possessed of what some people considered egos. 

Roosevelt admired Wilhelm, but the feelings were tempered with wariness — like many who knew the monarch, Roosevelt though his competency overblown — and a suspicion that his Germany could be a force for continental peace, and not an inevitable war.

An African king shows President Roosevelt a paper that reads, “How about Brownsville?” Roosevelt holds “the big stick” and a book entitled “Habits of the Hippo” and looks distressed.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Harry Osborn, a cartoonist who drew comic strips in Chicago and for the World Color Printing Company pre-print Sunday funnies, syndicated across America, speculated at the end of President Roosevelt’s administration about the upcoming African safari. Virtually every cartoonist with ink and pen did the same, but usually variations on the theme of wild animals scattering at the sight of Roosevelt.

In the first vignette, President Roosevelt holds his rifle as a lion runs away. An African man says, “Golly, dat was a bad shot, boss!” Roosevelt replies, “Liar!” In the second, two African men say, “Let us into your tent, boss, we’se most froze out here!” Roosevelt replies, “Milksops and mollycoddles!” In the third vignette, an African man says, “Dat’s a fine ump you shot, boss!” Roosevelt replies, “Nature fakir! It’s a ring tailed owk!” In the fourth vignette, an African king says, “Oogle ig uppy woof,” and an African man translates, “His majesty says he’ll have to charge you two bushels of beans to hunt in his country.” Roosevelt replies, “Tell him he is a sinister offender and a man with hard face and a soft body.” In the fifth, an African man says, “Say, boss, between ourselves, did you really write that letter to Harriman?” Roosevelt replies, “Muckraker! Shut up or I’ll beat you to a frazzle!” In the sixth, an African man says, “Boss I’se got to have more wages!” Roosevelt replies, “You’re an undesirable citizen and you’re fired!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Even with more than two months before he would retire from the presidency, many people — not least the corps of cartoonists — speculated on Theodore Roosevelt’s upcoming safari to Africa. It was not merely another aspect of the omnivore Roosevelt, nor the prospect of a very public man choosing to disappear from headlines for a year. The concept of almost any American save a few iconic explorers, plunging into what was then known (or unknown, literally) as the “Dark Continent” was something that attracted the attention, and inspired the imaginations, of an entire population.

German Emperor William II looks at President Roosevelt. Caption: The Kaiser–And you mean to say that you are permitted to give out an expression of opinion whenever the spirit moves you?

comments and context

Comments and Context

Throughout his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt always handled Wilhelm II, the German kaiser, with deference and skilled diplomacy. Apart from the emperor’s alleged delusions of grandeur (such as when he forced the resignation of the respected Chancellor Otto von Bismarck early in his reign, in 1890), he managed Germany’s dilemma as an emerging world power after other countries had gobbled up colonies and sea lanes. Over trade rights in Morocco, and other issues, Roosevelt the peace-maker intervened and might have averted a European war, for at least several years.

Henry Watterson puts his hand up to the White House as he watches kings on steamrollers coming out. On the ground is a paper: “If I were a Republican, I should turn my back on a candidate, no matter how personally acceptable, who represents the vicious methods of king rule and the steam roller. H. Watterson.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This drawing is a prime example of cartoonist Clifford Kennedy Berryman’s stock-in-trade. He was regarded in his lifetime, and by history, as a prominent political cartoonist of his era. He eventually was awarded a Pulitzer Prize (1944) and his son James succeeded him as political cartoonist of the Washington Star. Yet the typical Berryman cartoon was technically an editorial cartoon about political affairs; that is, he usually illustrated a situation or news headline. He commented but seldom attempted to persuade. He infrequently attacked people or policies, and often was described as “good-natured.”

President Roosevelt is draped in an American flag and wears a crown as he gestures to an American eagle. Caption: Jupiter (to the American Eagle): Now, then, keep quiet and listen to me–and don’t flap!

comments and context

Comments and Context

This British cartoon indicates not only that America’s influence was reaching foreign shores, but that the very words of President Roosevelt were closely followed as few other peacetime leaders had been. America had arrived as a world power, and this “American Century” coincided with Roosevelt’s presidency. The context of this cartoon was the recent annual address (now called the “State of the Union”) by the president.

In the first vignette, an African American man is labeled as the “proposed usher of the black rod.” In the second vignette, Secretary of War William H. Taft is labeled, “a nifty lord-in-waiting–waiting still for the nomination.” In the third vignette, Gifford Pinchot holds a tennis racket and is labeled, “first lord of the inner closet, with insignia of office.” In the fourth vignette, Henry Huttleston Rogers, Edward Henry Harriman, and John D. Rockefeller are labeled, “a group of bad barons in attitutes expressive of deep dissatisfaction and possible rebellion. In the fifth vignette is a “suggestion for royal coat of arms.” There is the big stick–;”Of course there can be but one sceptre.” The coat of arms includes the motto, “In votes we trust to bust the trusts.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Many political and editorial cartoonists drew variations on the themes of the interests and activities of Theodore Roosevelt. As a cognoscente and polymath, the president offered inspiration enough, but his famous strenuosity added to the visual possibilities. Few cartoonists captured so many of the possibilities offered by the many-sided Roosevelt, and Garnet Warren found his “hook” when a professor from Michigan — presumably a hagiographic assessment, as Michigan was one of the nation’s most progressive states at the time — observed that the president was a virtual monarch in the glory of his presidency of the republic.

President Roosevelt, dressed like French Emperor Napoleon I, stands next to a picture of Napoleon I with “the stick” underneath the picture.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The reliably (to the point of a daily drumbeat) anti-Roosevelt Woman’s National Daily newspaper and its cartoonist N. Eingen often made ad hominem attacks on President Roosevelt and his Administration. There was a history of friction, including federal investigations into its publisher’s activities in banking and post privileges.

President Roosevelt sits on a throne with a large crown and his big stick as a scepter. Beneath his feet is a rug, “U.S. Constitution.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The short-lived cartooning career of Alonzo W. Scarborough in the recently (1904) established New York newspaper, the Evening Globe, produced some memorable campaigns. The paper merged with the Commercial Advertiser (whose origins are traced to the first American newspaper, founded by Noah Webster) and was eventually bought by newspaper mogul Frank Andrew Munsey, a consistent supporter of Theodore Roosevelt, and merged with many other titles into the Herald-Tribune in the 1920s.

President Roosevelt and Kaiser William II look at each other.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-16

Andrew Carnegie toasts to King Edward VII of England and President Roosevelt, who holds up his “big stick.” Caption: Mr. Carnegie toasted King Edward and President Roosevelt “Our two rulers.”—News Item.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-07

“The trusts” walk a lamb with President Roosevelt’s head on it toward the United States Capitol. Roosevelt wears a crown.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-12

President Roosevelt congratulated Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph on his sixtieth anniversary of accession through a telegram delivered by American Ambassador Charles S. Francis in Hofburg, Austria.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-05-27

Second Assistant Secretary of State Adee suggests that Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates is an accurate source, and that he has already reported on the “royal pretender” Stepan Dusanovicz. Adee outlines a history of the rulers of Serbia to counteract the claims made by Dusanovicz regarding his right to the throne.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-23

In this speech, Senator Lodge argues against the Public Opinion Bill, which he believes will destroy representative government. He goes through a short history of the governments in the world, noting that the advance toward political liberty always went hand-in-hand with representative government. Because he loves freedom and hates tyranny, Lodge opposes the bill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-15

A black and white illustration of Emperor William II’s new yacht occupies the main body of the card surrounded by portraits of the Emperor, Prince Heinrich of Prussia, Alice Roosevelt, and President Roosevelt. In the top left corner is the coat of arms of the Emperor, and in the top right corner is the Great Seal of the United States. At the bottom of the postcard, the sender writes an affectionate note to a loved one.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1902

The front of the postcard is a black and white photograph of Theodore Roosevelt seated on a viewing platform with members of the Swedish Royal Family, including Prince Wilhelm and Princess Mary. The text, in Swedish, is “Roosevelt’s visit in Stockholm 1910.” The postcard was sent to Agnes Nathalia Swanson in Chicago, and the sender reports that Roosevelt was treated like royalty.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1910-05-27

The front of the postcard shows intersecting color circular portraits of President Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, with leaves and an American flag and a Union Jack flag.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1907-1914