Political campaigns

A staff correspondent writes of the political situations in Kansas and Iowa developing around the potential presidential nominees and senators from each state. Many possibilities and political stances are suggested including the idea that Senator Albert Baird Cummins would be a compromise for Republicans who are split between William H. Taft and Robert M. La Follette, though Cummins is a solid supporter of La Follette and will not run against him. Many believe a third party might arise amongst the division.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-02

This page from the Springfield Daily Republican presents Charles J. Bonaparte’s letter to the newspaper about Panama, as well as the newspaper’s editorial in reply.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-26

This translation of a French newspaper article reports on the death of William E. Vermilya, who “entered into one such state of exasperation at the thought that Mr. Roosevelt might become President of the United States that he preferred to suicide himself.”

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1912

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

Drawing of a design made by the Roosevelt Republican-Democratic Commercial Travellers’ League of America for a campaign ribbon for President Roosevelt and Vice-President Charles W. Fairbanks.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-13

At their annual meeting, the Commercial Travelers’ Sound Money League has elected new officers and pledged its support to President Roosevelt. Leaders from the league visited Roosevelt at Oyster Bay to express their support and invite him to the league’s dinner. The league got its start in response to William Jennings Bryan’s “cross of gold” speech, and played a large part in the 1896 and 1900 elections.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-13

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Paul Clagstone for his work in the campaign. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-11-25

Uncle Sam sits on a couch with David B. Hill as they both cry. On the ground is a paper that reads, “Hill to retire after the campaign.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-30

David B. Hill, August Belmont, and Grover Cleveland coax Democratic presidential candidate Alton B. Parker, whose hands are tied behind his back, toward the “Speakers Stand,” where Uncle Sam stands waiting. Cleveland has a “Speech for Parker” tucked in his back pocket.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-04

As part of a western campaign tour, Theodore Roosevelt speaks to crowds and firms up Progressive Party structure in the area of Fargo, North Dakota, September 6, 1912. Several views from varying distances of Roosevelt greeting and speaking to crowds from rear of train; Roosevelt addressing large crowd from a decorated platform, apparently in a stadium; Roosevelt speaking from rear of train to Native American men, women, and children assembled on open plains; several long shots of crowds; medium-close silhouette of Roosevelt and three men conversing, one of whom appears to be George Emlen Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s cousin and campaign secretary during the 1912 election.

Collection

Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound

Creation Date

1912

TR is cordially received on October 23, 1916 in Albuquerque, N.M. where he speaks on behalf of the Republican presidential candidate, Charles Evans Hughes, and attacks President Wilson’s Mexican policies. There are long shots of TR being greeted in the courtyard of the Alvarado Hotel; TR walks with a group of men that includes former Rough Rider George Curry, appointed territorial Governor of New Mexico (1907-1911) by TR, and a U.S. Representative (1912-1913); Curry is the tall man in a dark suit and light hat. TR acknowledges a Native American woman and child sitting by a fountain in the courtyard of the hotel and gives the woman some money. A parade on Central Avenue is held in honor of TR; there are views of a marching band, a mounted escort that includes twelve former Rough Riders, and decorated cars carrying dignitaries; distance and camera angle make positive identification of TR in this sequence impossible. From a narrow platform erected in front of the Alvarado Hotel, TR gives his speech; the seated man behind him is Senator Albert B. Fall, one of New Mexico’s first senators (1912-1921) and later to be Secretary of the Interior under Harding (1921-1923). Last sequence of TR waving from car, walking with several men through a crowd, and standing in a car, may be unrelated footage.

Collection

Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound

Creation Date

1916

Henry Gassaway Davis sits on a pile of money surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Caption: And the millions he intends to give the Democratic campaign fund.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-26

President Roosevelt stands at the “Presidency” plate on a baseball diamond, holding a bat labeled “Honest & Upright Government.” David B. Hill is poised to pitch him a “Tricky Politics” ball. “Gray,” William Jennings Bryan, and Grover Cleveland are in the outfield, while “Williams, Captain” talks with catcher Alton B. Parker. August Belmont, as bat boy, carries a “$” bag of bats labeled “Trusts” and “Interest.” Behind Roosevelt in the dugout are his teammates, Chauncey M. Depew, Albert J. Beveridge, Joseph Gurney Cannon, John Hay, George B. Cortelyou, “Black,” and vice-presidential candidate Charles W. Fairbanks. In the stands in the background are kings and other interested fans.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08

Chairman of the Republican National Committee George B. Cortelyou, on leaving the “Republican Headquarters,” encounters a crowd of people, including women, immigrants, and African Americans. Each wants to see him about something they can offer to the campaign for “Teddy,” pictured on the wall in the background: poems, songs, a “brudder” who is “a good speecher.” Caption: Cortelyou will have to contend with some new talent in the novelty line.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-14

Alton B. Parker uses a “courage” and “honor” gavel to hold down a “St. Louis telegram” on a cannon. Meanwhile, President Roosevelt holds a string to pull the trigger on a “Republican campaign gun” to which Dame Democracy is tied by a rope.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-13

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

In the first cartoon, President Roosevelt looks at a sagging doll labeled “the campaign” and says, “Positively anaemic. I must some life into it!!” In the second cartoon, Roosevelt has an “idea”: “Eureka! I’ll try a little Roosevelt oxygen. The very thing.” In the third cartoon, Roosevelt grabs a bucket and runs into the room: “We shall see, what we shall see!” In the fourth cartoon, Roosevelt uses a syringe to pump oxygen into the doll’s arm. The doll responds, “Huh?” as Roosevelt says, “in a ‘minnit’!” In the fifth cartoon, the doll jumps out of the chair as Roosevelt uses a stool to protect himself: “Dee-lighted!! Perfectly corking time!!” Caption: “The campaign has been dead. I wanted to put some life into it.” –President Roosevelt.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The quotation that forms the title, or caption, of the political cartoon by Oscar C. Chopin is like a cartoon itself; that is, a sentiment imputed to President Roosevelt, not a literal quotation. If he never said it or committed it to print, there were few doubts that the words characterized his thoughts. Most observers thought the 1908 presidential campaign was moribund, and Roosevelt’s desire to enliven it reflected his well-known impulses, but also served his concerns that candidate William H. Taft’s lassitude might snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

President Roosevelt holds a container of “Roosevelt ginger” and says, “I am not in charge of the campaign, but am greatly interested in it.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The 1908 presidential campaign between the somnolent William H. Taft and the evangelical Democrat William Jennings Bryan’s walk through his third attempt was itself looking to the American public like a sleep-walk. At least that is how the nation’s political cartoonists were characterizing the canvass — and so was President Roosevelt. He was congenitally nervous in such situations, eager for action, but when the campaign was energized by scandal and controversy in September, the cartooning corps likewise took notice, with almost palpable relief.

In the first cartoon, a man watches from his bedroom window as President Roosevelt sends three men in the air–“railroads,” “trusts,” and “public graft.” Caption: After people have been awakened every morning for the last six of seven years by a real Roosevelt explosion–. In the second cartoon, a man sleeps soundly as a Democratic donkey and Republican elephant play music outside his window. Caption: You can’t expect ’em to get excited over an ordinary campaign serenade.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

An elephant uses a “Hughes logic” broom in the shape of New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes’s head to sweep up “W. J. B.,” “theories,” “promises,” and “Dem. platform.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

That a cartoon originally published in the Des Moines Register and Leader would be reprinted in the neighboring Omaha News Bee indicated that the artist, Jay N. “Ding” Darling, was attaining the heights of respect in the Midwest occupied by other master commentators, John McCutcheon (Chicago Tribune) and J. H. Donahey (Cleveland Plain-Dealer). Ding, a Republican and progressive, would enjoy a career lasting almost half a century.