Ohio

John Callan O’Laughlin updates Roosevelt on the political landscape surrounding the Republican presidential nomination for the 1912 election. O’Laughlin reports solid support amongst the people and/or leaders of Ohio, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, and Alaska. O’Laughlin predicts Arkansas will go for President William H. Taft and says he would like to start work for Roosevelt in Alabama. O’Laughlin closes with saying “Catholic matter” will take a while and wishing Roosevelt and his family a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-21

John Mulholland voices his enthusiastic support for Theodore Roosevelt to run for president in 1912. Mulholland tells Roosevelt he can mobilize the unions in Ohio and use a confidential voter lists to help his campaign. Mulholland asserts that the country needs Roosevelt in this time of global social upheaval and says a progressive revolution is coming and it should be a “conservative progressive movement.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-21

Charles Stacey tells Theodore Roosevelt that the soldiers and farmers of Ohio support Roosevelt as the Republican presidential nominee and do not want President William H. Taft. Stacey introduces himself as a Civil War veteran who received a Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-19

Theodore Roosevelt expresses sympathy for the death of Henry Beach Needham’s mother, Caroline Mary Beach Needham. Roosevelt plans to speak before the Constitutional Convention in Ohio, then make a short statement explaining that he will not seek the nomination, but will accept it if it comes to him as a genuine popular movement.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-01-09

Postcard featuring a black and white political cartoon by Clifford Kennedy Berryman. The postcard shows Theodore Roosevelt giving a speech in support of letting the people rule. Both men and animals affirm their roles, while women ask, “We’re what?” The reverse of the postcard features a message discussing suffrage efforts in Ohio wards.

Collection

Marple Collection

Creation Date

1913

List of votes for Republican, Democrat, and Socialist presidential candidates for the election of 1912 published in the Toledo Weekly Blade. The list shows more Ohioans voted for Theodore Roosevelt over President William H. Taft, the Democrats, and the Socialists combined.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-07

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-06

Creator(s)

Unknown

Language

English

Nathaniel C. Wright shares a newspaper clipping with Daniel Rhodes Hanna saying he is printing the article to offset the trouble caused by what The North American has been printing regarding Theodore Roosevelt not being a candidate for the presidency. The article states that while Roosevelt has made his intentions clear, progressive Republicans have not lost hope that he will step up if their efforts to have him nominated are successful.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-28

Mary M. Tuttle describes scenes in a hotel in the Adirondack Mountains in detail. She includes a “discussion” between a New Yorker and an Ohioan about whose state is greater. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-29

The Cincinnati Times-Star sneeringly recounts the formal launch of James Rudolph Garfield’s run for Governor of Ohio.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-07-29

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

Fragment of an article opining that Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna should extend his overseas vacation for the good of both his health and the health of the Republican party.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-06-02

Senators Joseph Benson Foraker and Marcus Alonzo Hanna disagree on whether or not the upcoming Republican State Convention in Ohio should endorse President Roosevelt’s renomination for the presidency. Foraker supports making such a resolution, while Hanna does not. Hanna claims he simply believes that this should be done in the 1904 convention. Foraker believes that as the party has no other candidate it wishes to nominate, it will do no harm to endorse Roosevelt a year early.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-05-24

President Roosevelt lands on the stomach of a man labeled “the trusts” after jumping over an elephant with a seat that has several spikes—”postal scandal,” “Ohio quarrel,” and “New York fight.” There is a sign in the background: “Opening of the circus.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-18

Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna stands beside a sign that reads, “1904 Resolved that I will not be a candidate against Teddy but at the same time I will hold off the Ohio convention to see which way the wind is blowing. Mark.” Hanna puts his hand on Perry S. Heath’s head and says, “Nice little guy.” Heath holds papers that read, “Hanna for president talk.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12

President Roosevelt holds up a paper that reads, “Will you remain chairman of the G.O.P. and take charge of my campaign?” to Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna, who has a large dollar sign on his shirt and three papers behind him: “Ohio’s endorsement of Hanna for G.O.P. Nom. for President,” “Pull,” and “Push.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-05

An “Ohio G.O.P.” elephant rejoices as it sees a hot air balloon with Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna’s face filled up by the “presidential main” pipe line but a hot air balloon with President Roosevelt’s face deflated.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-15

President Roosevelt sits on the “White House” steps and paints his name on “the full dinner pail” to replace William McKinley’s crossed out name. Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna holds an “Ohio standpat” kite and points his finger at Roosevelt. Another man with a hat labeled “Butte, Montana,” and a card inviting him to lunch with Roosevelt sits on the other side of the dinner pail.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-25

New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt helps a large elephant-like Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna’s head around the center of “1904—the greatest ‘moral’ show on Earth” as President Roosevelt watches from underneath the curtain. Up above the “Ohio Orchestra” plays, “What’s the matter with Hanna?”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-23

President Roosevelt rushes ahead on a horse and drags Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna, who rides on an “Ohio” saddle blanket on another horse, along behind him.

Comments and Context

W. A. Rogers of the New York Herald (this cartoon was reprinted in the Albany Times-Union) was as adept as any newspaper artist in capturing the essence of a current event, a news story of the moment. Despite his Democrat leanings, when he chose to be documentary and not partisan, he provided posterity with a good record of the times.

This cartoon illustrates the denouement of an episode in the wrangling that preceded the 1904 Republican presidential nomination, a year hence. Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna, confidant of the martyred President William McKinley, and chairman of the Republican National Committee, coveted the nomination. Some Old Guard grandees inn the party, and members of the financial community, preferred him (or anybody) over the incumbent, Theodore Roosevelt.