Poker

Armed with a big stick, President Roosevelt plays poker with “Bear” and “Bull” on a table labeled “Wall Street,” saying “It’s a square deal, boys!”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Maurice Ketten, who had a long and modest but distinguished career as a cartoonist of social subjects, life’s dilemmas, and daily panel serials of suburban and domestic situations, did not draw political cartoons for long, and this attempt might explain the course set for him by his editors at the New York Evening World.

A man holds five playing cards with faces of American politicians on them: Missouri Governor Joseph Wingate Folk, Wisconsin Governor Robert M. La Follette, President Roosevelt, Secretary of State John Hay, and Illinois Governor Charles Samuel Deneen.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-30

Charles A. Peabody, president of Mutual Life, and Alexander E. Orr, president of New York Life, play poker with Samuel Untermeyer. Each is holding a handful of “Proxies” in one hand and a pistol in the other. Caption: A quiet game of freeze-out in life insurance gulch.

comments and context

Comments and Context

In the aftermath of the lengthy, detailed, and juicy investigations into the insurance industry in 1905, undertaken by the New York State Assembly and eventually managed by attorney Charles Evans Hughes, the practices of Big Insurance in America were a hot topic, and would be for years to come.

Two Irish men play poker at a social club or union hall. Caption: Mike (teaching Pat poker) — Well, what hov yez got? / Pat — Four trowels and a black shamrock!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902-10-08

A short story with handwritten corrections and additions, telling the tale of an aspiring gambler on his way to Chicago when he gets pulled into a poker game with bigger stakes than he thought. The back of the last page has a scribbled note and a title for a new story “Sweet Tale,” not started.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

Unknown

Thomas B. Reed, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley are playing poker at the “Presidential Aspirants’ Poker Club.” Reed is wearing a crown and royal robe, Harrison is wearing his iconic top hat, and McKinley is dressed like Napoleon I and has a stack of red, white, and blue chips in front of him.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-01-03

A high-stakes poker game is being played by Uncle Sam, German Emperor William II, Japanese Emperor Meiji, Emile Loubet of France, and King of Great Britain Edward VII. The emperor of Japan is raising the bid by one battleship. Caption: Japan — I see your cruisers and raise you a dreadnought!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-09-22