Patronage, Political

President Roosevelt asks if the former Rough Rider who William H. H. Llewellyn saw working as a bartender was Thomas H. Rynning. If so, he jokingly points out that he was promoted before Roosevelt was in command of the regiment. Roosevelt is glad that Llewellyn prosecuted Frank Brito, another former Rough Rider, because they “cannot afford to let it be thought that we either shield bad men because they are Rough Riders, or press second rate men forward for the same reason.” Many former Rough Riders have been asking Roosevelt for government positions. Roosevelt is chagrined that the annual reunion of Rough Riders was rescheduled on his account, and thinks that they should stop annual reunions altogether, as he does not want them to be commercialized. He was uncomfortable with Rough Riders speaking for him in uniform in the recent election because of the spectacle, and thinks that in the future reunions should only take place every four years, and should be “simply and solely a quiet meeting of the regiment without any outside show of a spectacular type.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-07-13

In a letter to George Otto Trevelyan, President Roosevelt expresses his consternation at having to spend so much time considering patronage jobs for political allies, and he marvels at President Abraham Lincoln’s ability to do so during the Civil War. Roosevelt also comments on the war between Russia and Japan, and he confides that he is frustrated by his inability to influence matters in either Russia or Turkey for embattled ethnic groups in each nation.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1905-05-13

President Roosevelt informs Clark Howell of Atlanta, Georgia, that he is surprised and disappointed at the reaction to some of his appointments for federal jobs in the South. Roosevelt says that he will not waver from his actions and that he will not “treat mere color as a permanent bar to holding office.” Roosevelt reminds Howell that he has appointed whites and Africa-Americans to positions in Georgia and South Carolina.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1903-02-24

President Roosevelt—It—wears a number of signs: “imperialism,” “protection for monopoly,” “personal orders substituted for acts of Congress,” “militarism,” “extravagance,” “my Cortelyou—the fat fryer,” “standpatism,” and “promotion of personal favorites.” His “party” and “despotism” legs crush “international law” and “the Constitution of the United States.” He holds “the big stick” in one hand and a revolver in the other.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-03

President Roosevelt stands on a “White House” rug and holds up “presidential patronage” mistletoe. A “Republican party” woman stands beside him and holds a “Hanna boom” fan.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12

President Roosevelt holds down scales so that they are weighted on the “pull” side, which has Leonard Wood and a paper that reads, “promotion to a major generalcy.” The other side, which is labeled “merit,” features a number of men in uniform and with decorations. Caption: This system of weighing is now the subject of a Senatorial investigation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12

President Roosevelt and New York Governor Benjamin B. Odell hoist New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt up on the “same old shelf.” Platt holds a sash that reads, “the uneasy boss,” while Odell has a “$500,000 patronage New York” paper in his pocket.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-03

President Roosevelt climbs up a “white patience” tree to reach for the Southern African American delegate vote. He holds “federal patronage,” African American social equality, and the “National Republican Convention vote.” The tree is bent dangerously over “obscurity” water, and Ohio Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna watches from below.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-11-20

President Roosevelt rides a Republican elephant that holds a “Delaware patronage” scroll in its trunk as it steps into a river labeled “dirty politics.” John Edward Charles O’Sullivan Addicks attempts to grab the scroll.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-13

President Roosevelt holds an “executive order” and a “classified service” umbrella to keep dry from the dark clouds of “political patronage.” Over a dozen “fourth class postmasters” run toward him as two “congressmen” look surprised.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The day prior to this cartoon’s publication — and, significantly, while Congress was recessed — President Roosevelt signed an executive order for the classification by competition of all fourth-class postmasters in fourteen states between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River, an area containing more than half of the United States population, and approximately a third of all such postmaster positions. That group of employees comprised one of American politics’ richest caches of patronage jobs, a source of influence and power for politicians.

President Roosevelt drives a “White House lawnmower” down “Taft Ave.” that has a sign: “Keep off the grass.” William Jennings Bryan runs away and says, “And I thought that I was running against Taft.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist P. B. McCord made two salient points about the 1908 presidential campaign in this drawing. The first is that the canvass of Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan virtually was bereft of issues; that is, to attack William H. Taft was to attack the policies of the incumbent, President Roosevelt. And “keeping off the lawn” of Taft meant a somewhat electoral argument, as Roosevelt remained overwhelmingly popular with Americans.

A phonograph of “Taft’s speeches” releases “T. R.” glasses and teeth toward a parrot with the head of William H. Taft.

comments and context

Comments and Context

This outstanding drawing by James Calvert Smith could be a textbook example of an effective political cartoon — humor, symbols, and a salient point or attack. Its one deficiency would be the caricature of William H. Taft. A parrot’s body could easily have had Taft’s face, especially with the identifying tag. As it is, the beak resembles a nose, and therefore suggests someone else.

President Roosevelt sits at his desk and holds a paper that reads: “for the uplift of the American farmer—reforms necessary etc. etc.” On the wall is a picture of William H. Taft and on the ground is “Darkest Africa” as well as a variety of papers: “Foraker silent,” “Hughes needs attention in New York,” “Illinois stirred up,” “West Virginia muddle,” “Indiana very uncertain,” and “Iowa situation cloudy.” An American farmer has a “bank account” paper in his pocket and says, “Don’t worry about us. You have other troubles.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The cartoon by Joseph Harry Cunningham in the Washington Herald addressed several matters that were prominent in the news of the time, only peripherally suggesting by the attitude of the figure representing American farmers that the agricultural section was dissatisfied with President Roosevelt at that time. Beyond normal nuances of support and priorities, such was not the case.

President Roosevelt leans against a hay stack with a book opened to “In Darkest Africa” and “Big Game Classified” as well as a picture of William H. Taft and the label of “my candidate.” He dreams of seeing William Jennings Bryan’s face in many animals as he walks off with his gun. Taft sits on a log and says, “Don’t be long.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Joseph Harry Cunningham probably was closer to the truth than he knew when he imagined President Roosevelt’s inability to forget politics, even while he was planning for his upcoming African safari. Similarly, he could have only surmised the role of candidate William H. Taft in the campaign against the Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

William H. Taft is dressed in clothing tagged with President Roosevelt’s initials and “my policies T.R.” belt as he boxes. Roosevelt holds “my oil” and says, “That’s a corker.” On the wall are “my rules”: “soak the malefactors,” “punch the trusts,” “upper cut the combinations–,” “solar plex the reactionaries–,” “jab the mollycoddles–” and “biff the bosses–.” On the ground is a picture of Taft with the label of “my candidate.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Joseph H. Cunningham, who seldom displayed prescience in his cartoons, much less a gift of prophecy, unknowingly forecast the sad summary of the Taft Administration vis a vis the policies of Theodore Roosevelt. And this cartoon was one of the very first of the 1908 campaign, after the nomination of William H. Taft and before he was elected or inaugurated.

President Roosevelt talks with three other President Roosevelts and says, “Gentlemen, as I was saying…” In the background is William H. Taft wearing clothing tagged with Roosevelt’s initials and on the ground is a picture of Taft with the label of “my candidate.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Joseph Harry Cunningham in this drawing made the salient observation — not an attack or suggestion, but very close to the truth — that President Roosevelt might be more involved than William H. Taft, the Republican candidate, in the upcoming presidential campaign.

William H. Taft is dressed in clothing tagged with President Roosevelt’s initials: “T.R.” To his right is a “my policies T.R.” suitcase.

comments and context

Comments and Context

With scarcely an inch or a thread on the generous bulk of presidential candidate William H. Taft, cartoonist Joseph Harry Cunningham evoked, perhaps unknowingly (and with little logical connection) a cartooning icon of a decade earlier. Homer Davenport of the Hearst papers sought to discredit Marcus Alonzo Hanna of Ohio, the close adviser of President William McKinley. He caricatured Hanna as a bloated presence, whether as an amanuensis or a Svengali, but invariably in a gaudy, checkered suit. The industrialist’s every square in the suit and vest was filled with a dollar sign. The venomous Davenport even turned Hanna’s first name into an accusatory pun: “Dollar Mark.”

President Roosevelt and Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker point fingers at one another as little demons–“ugly rumors,” “charges,” “insinuations,” “accusations,” “falsehoods,” “malicious,” “sensations,” and “scandals”–jump out of the “patronage” box. Roosevelt and Foulke say, “You opened it!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

It had been a year since the unprecedented and uncomfortable angry exchanges between President Roosevelt and Senator Joseph Benson Foraker of Ohio at the annual Gridiron Dinner. The annual roast of politicians and newspapermen was an evening of bonhomie, with members sworn to secrecy. But the Roosevelt-Foraker feud, precipitated by the Brownsville Affair — a black army regiment being cashiered for offenses the president thought they were shielding — and Foraker’s aggressive defense of the regiment made headlines and still simmered a year later.

President Roosevelt holds “federal patronage” behind his back and asks, “Which hand, gentlemen?” In the foreground a teddy bear plays with dice.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Clifford Kennedy Berryman, over his long career, often was complimented as a political cartoonist, but the rare sort who held no malice. In fact over his long career he held no real capacity for caricature. Rather he achieved realistic likenesses of political figures, either by mechanical or freehand means, and fixed those heads on smaller bodies and in situations. Often, because of this artifice, his characters wore inappropriate expressions or failed to make eye-contact. Such was the case in this cartoon.

President Roosevelt holds an axe and a turkey with a sign about “office holders” as four Rough Riders look on.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-22