Laughter

Theodore Roosevelt, wearing his Rough Rider uniform, shares a feast with many wild animals sitting around a large banquet table in the wilderness. A bear is making a toast. Wearing buckskin, “Teddy Jr.” is sitting on a rock at a small table with a bear cub. Caption: The Bear (with deep feeling) Here’s hoping that when next we meet, we see you first.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Puck took another opportunity at a holiday time, Thanksgiving 1905, to run a non-political cartoon. J. S. Pughe’s drawing certainly was not partisan, either, but today might be considered as advocating a social cause: Opposition to animal cruelty. Theodore Roosevelt’s joy of the hunt, and descriptions of shooting and slaughtering (though always for food, hides, or specimens) are off-putting to more readers today than in his time.

Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, sits on his throne. At his feet are an orb, a broken scepter, and a cleft shield showing St. George and the dragon. He is recoiling in horror at being mocked by a gathering of ghosts of the oppressed from ages past, while behind him anarchists with weapons, one about to throw a bomb, are preparing to strike.

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Comments and Context

Czar Nicholas II, on his throne in late 1905 was more than a decade from being forced to assuage his restive peoples with meaningless reforms, to abdicate, and to have himself and his family lived as peasants before being brutally murdered. This was in the future, as history knows, yet Carl Hassmann’s chilling portrayal of the Czar’s real position was true and prescient.

A turkey sits on a tree branch, dreaming of a “Vegetarian Pledge” and countless people lining up to sign their names. All the wild and domestic animals laugh. In the lower right corner, an old man with an axe waits for the turkey.

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Comments and Context

The major cartoon weeklies of the time had virtual designees as specialists in animal cartoons. Anthropomorphic creatures were a staple of American humor at the time — in fact, since Aesop — but cartoonists joined the ranks at this time. J. S. Pughe was the most prominent of Puck’s animal cartoonists.

The Russian Bear, as a soldier with rifle, has been turned into a scarecrow. A crow labeled “Japan” bites its nose. Another crow labeled “England” is perched on its cap. A crow labeled “Germany” is flying around its head. A crow labeled “Turkey” is on the ground at its feet. A crow labeled “China” is perched on the rifle butt. All these crows, and several others on a fence nearby, are cawing with laughter at the scarecrow.

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Comments and Context

The term “Sick Man of Europe” has been applied through centuries of international diplomacy to several countries — the Ottoman Empire and Turkey during periods of decline, and Great Britain when parts of its empire fell away. In the years prior to World War I, Russia surely wore the mantle.

William Jennings Bryan, wearing the pope’s tiara and holding a scepter labeled “16 to 1,” jumps up and down and stamps his feet in anger, as six men labeled “Cleveland, Whitney, Hill, Gorman, Parker, [and] Olney” stand to the left, laughing.

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Comments and Context

Pughe’s cartoon appeared shortly after the mid-term elections of 1902, during which the Democratic Party did not fare well, due in part to the popularity of the new president, Theodore Roosevelt, the continuing prosperity in the country, largely unabated since 1897, and what might be termed a fatigue with William Jennings Bryan. The “Commoner” had been the party’s presidential candidate in 1896 and 1900 and lost badly. His harping on the “16 to 1” free-silver coinage issue was growing thin.

President Roosevelt thanks John F. Wilkins for his advertisements, and states that he got a good laugh out of them.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-20

President Roosevelt laughed at the cartoon Joseph Bucklin Bishop sent and received an interesting letter from Nicholas Murray Butler, the subject of which he asks Bishop to discuss with Butler.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-10

Postcard featuring a portrait of President Roosevelt laughing.

Collection

Marple Collection

Creation Date

1903

Theodore Roosevelt and an unknown man in uniform face each other, grinning and laughing.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-08-31

Two men–the “House” and the “Senate”–read “Roosevelt’s Panama Message” that has “liar” written all over it and laugh, saying, “I can hear Joe Pulitzer laffin now!” In the background, “haw-haw!” can be seen coming from the New York World building. President Roosevelt cries and says, “They think I’m a joke!!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

If one studies the cartoon scrapbooks assembled for President Roosevelt during his administration, it reveals a rough equivalency of drawings that are favorable and unfavorable to the president. If one studies the actual range of newspapers and magazines during this era — that is, including cartoonists who were not represented in the scrapbooks — it indicates that most newspapers, as with the majority of citizens, were Roosevelt partisans.

Photograph shows Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. laughing.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1932

An old woman with a broom labeled “Spoils System” evicts from the “Democratic Home” a young woman labeled “Civil Service Reform” carrying a bag labeled “Civil Service Laws.” On the street are Benjamin Harrison, Whitelaw Reid, and Thomas B. Reed, laughing. In the background, on the left, is the “Republican Home” with an old woman labeled “G.O.P.” looking out the window. A large padlock labeled “Spoils System” bars the gate. On the right is the “Mugwump Home” where a woman is standing with open arms to welcome the young woman labeled “Civil Service Reform.” Caption: But she will always find a hearty welcome and kind treatment at the old reliable independent home.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-06-20

David B. Hill appears as a jackass wearing a coat with a ribbon that states “I am a Democrat,” standing on rocks, kicking at the moon, which shows the face of Grover Cleveland. Puck and a group of citizens are laughing at him.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-05-23

Grover Cleveland drives a stagecoach labeled “Administration Coach” carrying “Columbia” and being pulled by two horses labeled “Honest Principles” and “Sound Policy.” The coach is stuck in a hole labeled “Deficit” and “This Hole Dug by Republican Party.” Arthur P. Gorman, standing at the rear, uses a large stick labeled “Wilson Bill” and a board labeled “Bond Issue” to try to get the wheels out of the hole. On the right, in a “Bog of Public Contempt,” are Whitelaw Reid, John Sherman, Thomas B. Reed, George F. Hoar, and Benjamin Harrison. They are laughing at Cleveland.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-02-21

David B. Hill is caught in a large claw-type animal trap labeled “Nomination for N.Y. Governorship.” A sign posted next to the trap states, “This trap was set by David B. Hill to catch an Anti-Snapper.” Two groups of men are standing to the right and left. Among them are Charles S. Fairchild, Carl Schurz, Edward M. Shepard, William R. Grace, and Oswald Ottendorfer. They are laughing at him.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-10-17

George F. Hoar is a modern-day Cassandra prophesying doom, which evokes the laughter of President William McKinley, William R. Day, William T. Sampson, and Wesley Merritt.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-02-08

Print shows Chauncey M. Depew wearing a tuxedo and a bib labeled “Depew,” standing at a small table on which is a tea cup and a cigar, a lamp and a cordial glass in the “U.S. Senate.” A few men gathered in the background are laughing. Caption: Puck suggests a way to get the best results.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-02-15

Outside a building labeled “Washington Inn” with an image of the U.S. Capitol on the sign, a large group of Republican legislators, politicians, and others are laughing at an old man wearing tattered clothing labeled “Democracy.” He looks dazed, as though he has just wandered in from the past; his walking stick is dated “1861.” Two dogs labeled “N.Y. Tribune” and “N.Y. Times” sniff at his heels. Among those present are George M. Robeson, Ulysses S. Grant, John Logan, James Gillespie Blaine, Chester Alan Arthur (dressed as a woman, serving food and drinks), Charles J. Folger, George Frisbie Hoar, Joseph Warren Keifer, Horace F. Page, William Mahone (doing a hand-stand), J. D. Cameron, Roscoe Conkling, John Sherman, George F. Edmunds, John P. Jones, and Thomas Collier Platt.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-03-14

Two diminutive figures labeled “Democratic Principles” and “Republican Principles” argue between themselves. In the background are four large men, “the Gods,” labeled “Democratic Boss, Privileged Interests, Dive Keeper, [and] Republican Boss” sitting on a bench, amused by the two small figures in the foreground. Caption: The Big Four — Let ’em argue! If they stopped talking they might begin thinking, and then where would we be?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-11-03

A human figure with a large globe for a head looks at a campaign poster labeled “Vote For William Jenkins the People’s Choice,” showing a bust portrait of Jenkins that has been pasted on a wooden fence. Below the poster is a diminutive William Jenkins, scowling, holding a newspaper with the headline “Election Extra – Jenkins Loses,” as he walks away to the right.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1913-11-05