Political parties--Platforms

William Jennings Bryan uses the hot air from his “Speeches” to inflate a large balloon labeled “Imperialism,” of President William McKinley dressed as the “Emperor of USA,” holding a scepter in one hand and a sword in the other. On the ground nearby is a burst balloon labeled “Goldbugism.”

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“Goldbugism” refers to the main thrust of William Jennings Bryan’s 1896 campaign, linking the Republicans to the gold standard and predatory monopolies. Bryan lost heavily in the Electoral College that year, and cartoonist Keppler predicted that the imperialism issue would have the same fate in the 1900 elections. It did.

William Jennings Bryan offers a large knife labeled “16 to 1” to a laborer who is daydreaming about “Contentment.” The laborer sits next to a large bucket, labeled “1900,” of golden eggs labeled “Savings, Good wages, Steady work, No shut downs, Prosperity, [and] Good hours.” Bryan wants the laborer to use the knife to kill the goose, in the left foreground, labeled “Gold Standard” that lays the golden eggs.

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“16 to 1” refers to the intentionally inflationary currency plan that would require the federal government to include silver as a medium of exchange and fix its rate at one-sixteenth of gold’s value. Especially after the discovery of major silver lodes in the West, this plan would make currency more elastic, and theoretically make economic life easier for farmers. This was one reason that both parties targeted the minds and votes of farmers in this era. The United States instead de-coupled silver, and went on the gold standard until the New Deal.

William Jennings Bryan is a large spider labeled “Free Silver” with three flies labeled “White, Schurz, [and] Godkin” caught in his web labeled “16 to 1,” “Anti-expansion,” “Chicago Platform,” and “Bryanism.”

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The radical economic policies and agrarian roots of William Jennings Bryan kept many Eastern, aristocratic liberals from making alliance with his Populist-based campaigns. The old-line liberal reformers Horace White, Carl Schurz, and Edwin Godkin — all on the staffs of the New York Post and The Nation magazine — were tempted to support Bryan in his presidential candidacy of 1900 on the issues of Expansionism and anti-Imperialist views. The cartoon’s layout and labels indicate that cartoonist Pughe saw Imperialism as an issue that would lead to their doom.

Illustration shows two views of William Jennings Bryan sitting at a desk working on his campaign principles. The lower scene shows Bryan preparing for the 1896 presidential election. To the right are Carl Schurz, Henry Watterson, William Bourke Cockran, Richard Olney, and David B. Hill, all in disagreement with Bryan, each holding a sheet of paper disclaiming his principles. In the upper scene, Bryan has crossed out 1896 and replaced it with 1900, adhering to, and remaining consistent with, his earlier principles. To the right are the same five disclaimers. This time they bow to Bryan and offer only one comment: “We do not believe you will do what you promise to do, and we admire you because we think you are insincere. Hill, Olney, Cockran, Watterson, Schurz.”

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Cartoonist Dalrymple engages in hyperbole — the mother’s milk of many political cartoonists — in characterizing the positions of William Jennings Bryan as presidential candidate in 1896 (e.g., “Down with the Supreme Court”). Yet he was right to depict that fact that Bryan had changed few of his positions four years later when he was re-nominated. His in-house Democratic dissenters of 1896 indeed supported him in 1900 when this cartoon was published week before the election. In fact, three factors had changed: Bryan adopted a severe anti-Imperialist stance that attracted new adherents, his “radical” prescriptions of 1896 slowly were becoming palatable to voters, and four years out of office (“in the wilderness”) had Democrats yearning to support the only candidate in the race. Beyond the characterization of Bryan’s positions, the cartoonist’s point of view is reinforced by his caricature of the candidate — scruffy hair, needing a shave, a rough farmer’s hat.

William Jennings Bryan sits at a desk on which are papers labeled “Free Silver Speeches.” With a sorrowful look, he stares up at a raven perched on a bust of Pallas Athena. The raven wears a medallion labeled “Free Silver.” Caption: “On this home by horror haunted — tell me truly, I implore! — Is there — is there balm in Gilead? tell me, tell me, I implore! Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore!'”

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Drawn and printed too early to have foreseen the actual outcome of the 1900 presidential election — which generally was considered a forgone conclusion against William Jennings Bryan — cartoonist Keppler drew a cartoon that would be safe in any eventuality. His albatross, so to speak, was the raven in this twist on Poe’s famous poem. For all of Bryan’s other attributes, qualities, and deficiencies, his stubborn adherence to inflationary bimetallism — “16 to 1” coinage of silver-to-gold ratio — widely was seen as fatal to his advancement on the national stage. 

The Democratic Party platform is in flames with a donkey labeled “Democratic Party” rising from the flames as the mythological phoenix. Eleven Democratic Party members have gathered around the fire to supplicate the supernatural being. Caption: The Democratic Phoenix. — If they’d just keep that Bryan boy from playing around me with matches I wouldn’t have to do this stunt every four years.

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The caption of Keppler’s cartoon is cynical, sarcastic, and true. The Democratic Party had been for years its own worst enemy, in electoral terms. Some of the leading Democratic politicians and journalists praying for the scruffy Phoenix to rise include former cabinet member William C. Whitney, Senator John T Morgan of Alabama, U.S. Representative Bourke Cochran, former Governor David Bennett Hill of New York, Senator Arthur Pue Gorman of Maryland, and Henry Watterson, Editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. 

Illustration showing Senator George Frisbie Hoar having a troubled sleep due to writing on his bedroom wall, as stated at the Ohio Republican convention in Columbus, Ohio, April 1900: “We have faith in American patriotism, character, and capacity, and we know that American government will extend the inestimable blessings of freedom, law, and civilization to the peoples who are brought under our protection” signed, “Rep. State Platforms.” Also shows a portrait of the Filipino insurgent leader Emilio Aguinaldo on the wall.

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Massachusetts Senator Hoar was one of a handful of Republican leaders who opposed the Spanish-American War. He was a lifelong anti-Imperialist — for instance, thwarting efforts to annex Hawaii by any means — but was particularly opposed to the activities of the United States in the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. He decried efforts to suppress the rebellion led by Emilio Aguinaldo and he publicized many of the charges of brutality and torture leveled at American forces. This cartoon depicts Hoar’s fevered sleep, avoiding the writing on the wall. The portrait of Aguinaldo mocks his admiration for the rebel leader.

A man representing the Republican Party, with a lapel ribbon with the date of the Republic Convention, hoists a banner proclaiming “For President, Wm. McKinley” and a portrait of McKinley and the party platform, “Gold Standard – Expansion – Prosperity – Free Cuba.” The figure of Puck, representing the magazine’s point of view, stands to the right, holding a sheet of paper listing “some things you have done badly,” such as: “Tariff Favored Trusts, Jingo Canal Bluff, Ship Subsidy Steal, Porto Rican Scandal.” Caption: Puck (to Republican Party)–That banner is all right, but here are some things you have done badly. Don’t forget that the voters are going to consider both sides!

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After 1884, Puck was reliably Democratic in its politics, with occasional exceptions. When issues aligned, the magazine was independent or a Republican advocate. The combination of Mckinley’s sound-money record and his prosecution of the Spanish-American War, inclined the magazine to support McKinley. In addition, the economic and foreign-policy positions of Democrat William Jennings Bryan, continued to be noxious to the magazine. The image of McKinley certainly is complimentary at the hands of cartoonist Keppler, but the list in the hands of Puck remind readers that its support, like gold, was not always unalloyed.

William Jennings Bryan, standing in the “Presidential Sea,” pulls on a rope tied to a shipwreck labeled “Democracy” which was “Stranded 1896” on rocks labeled “16 to 1,” “Bryanism,” and “Bourbonism,” while a bearded old man labeled “Populist,” wearing overalls, is trying to help, using a large hook to pull the ship off the rocks.

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In a cartoon that was about as sympathetic to Williams Jennings Bryan as Puck could muster, “the Commoner’s” plight is depicted abstractly, except for the silent irony that one of the rocks on which the Democratix Party foundered in the previous campaign was “Bryanism” itself. In fact, the situation pictured in J. S. Pughe’s cartoon was prophetic. The renominated candidate was trounced by President McKinley and the Republicans.

William Jennings Bryan, with a huge smile, sits on the Democratic donkey labeled “Democracy” with a long, sad face. Bryan is gleefully waving his hat in the direction of a violent riot involving street railroads and an angry mob, with gunshots and explosions as the crowd overturns a streetcar.

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On the very week that the Democratic Party met in Kansas City to nominate a presidential ticket, Puck tweaked the party (“Democracy”) and its predicted candidate William Jennings Bryan over the logical extension of its previous national platform (Chicago convention, 1896) — labor strife. Over the summer of 1900, a violent streetcar workers’ strike smoldered in St Louis, at the other end of the state. By the time it ended, 14 people had been killed and more than 200 injured. Bryan’s views on labor and unions were indicted in Pughe’s cartoon.

President William McKinley walks onto the White House grounds with a woman labeled “Prosperity,” passing a group of barking dogs labeled “Anti-prosperity,” “Silverites,” “Anti-trust,” “Anti-expansion,” and “Socialist.” The woman, dressed in a red, white, and blue outfit, may represent Columbia or possibly Mrs. McKinley. She is wearing a winged hat like that of the Roman god Mercury, though may also represent Minerva, the Roman goddess and patroness of commerce and trade.

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In a cartoon as close to a Presidential endorsement that the traditionally Democratic magazine Puck could make, “Prosperity” is literally wedded to President McKinley. These icons, including the harmless growling dogs, were in second place compared to that of its Republican rival, Judge Magazine. Judge‘s cartoons depicting the “Full Dinner Pail” — suggesting prosperity for American middle-class workers — became campaign slogans and an image that adorned millions of buttons, banners, posters, and cartoons.

William Jennings Bryan leads a donkey labeled “Dem” carrying a heavy load, including the “Democratic Platform” strewn with bunting, boxes labeled “Anti-expansion,” “Anti-trust,” and “Free riot,” two bars of silver labeled “16 to 1” and “Free silver,” a millstone labeled “Populism,” and a bomb labeled “Dynamite.” They are about to enter a large ear horn or trumpet labeled “To the White House,” which is visible in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1900-07-18

At a table set for a meal, President William McKinley, on the left, and William Jennings Bryan, on the right, each offer up a steaming plate of bloated male figures labeled “Commercial Trusts,” to a much larger man sitting between them. The man wears a napkin tied around his neck labeled “Labor Trust” and holds a knife and fork. Caption: Both candidates promise to serve up the little trusts to the big one.

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This cartoon shows a familiar scenario in American politics at the mid-point in presidential elections. The issues and figures change, but rivals often make appeals to — or pander to — the same potential voting groups. Laborers, the rising middle class in 1900, represented a sizable portion of the electorate, even if individual or industries had influences in their spheres. 

An elderly German American man, with one hand pointing to his head and the other pointing to a coin bank labeled “Savings Bank” on a table, winks to reinforce that he thinks his investments in the “U.S. Bonds” protruding from his vest and his savings are wise decisions. On the left is a poster showing a bust portrait of President William McKinley labeled “Expansion” and captioned “Gold Standard and Sound Money,” and on the right is a poster showing a bust portrait of William Jennings Bryan labeled “Anti-Expansion” and captioned “Repudiation and 16 to 1.”

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The readership of Puck was reliably and generally regarded as German-American, above any other affiliation. It began as a German-language weekly and still published a German edition when this cartoon was published. Usually Democratic in its political views, except in years that William Jennings Bryan was not a candidate, this cartoon posed a question but strongly implied the answer: wise, thrifty, and sober German-Americans would support President William McKinley (as Puck did, editorially, that year.)

President William McKinley stands on the steps to the U.S. Capitol, holding up two flags, one labeled “Expansion” and the other labeled “Sound Money.” Tiny figures at the foot of the steps show William Jennings Bryan and his “Anti-Expansion” and “16 to 1” followers trying to dislodge the flag poles.

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Puck never shed its Democratic roots more than in campaigns where William Jennings Bryan was its party’s nominee, especially in 1900. The portrait of McKinley virtually is hagiographic. Even with two major issues, the Democrats found scarce traction with voters. The Anti-Expansion “pigmies” include Carl Schurz, left; and Joseph Pulitzer, right. Two of the “16 to 1” (free silver) opponents are Senator George Frisbie Hoar, left; Adlai E. Stevenson, with the straw hat; and Bryan, with the banner.

William Jennings Bryan offers his small, ineffective umbrella labeled “16 to 1,” “Anti-trust,” and “Anti-Expansion,” to a woman labeled “Columbia” who is carrying a more effective umbrella labeled “Prosperity.” Caption: Bryan. — Won’t you come under my umbrella?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1900-09-05

A huge Uncle Sam gets a new outfit made at the “McKinley and Company National Tailors” with President William McKinley taking the measurements. Carl Schurz, Joseph Pulitzer, and Oswald Ottendorfer stand inside the entrance to the shop and Schurz is offering Uncle Sam a spoonful of “Anti-Expansion Policy” medicine, a bottle of which each is carrying. On the right are bolts of cloth labeled “Enlightened Foreign Policy” and “Rational Expansion.” The strips on Uncle Sam’s trousers are labeled “Texas, Louisiana Purchase, Alaska, Florida, California, Hawaii, [and] Porto Rico.” Caption: The Antis. — Here, take a dose of this anti-fat and get slim again! Uncle Sam. — No, Sonny!, I never did take any of that stuff, and I’m too old to begin!

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Lose weight or be measured for new clothes? The three men offering Uncle Sam reducing serums are Carl Schurz, a liberal Republican who moved to the United States in 1848, was named a Union General by Lincoln, and supported Horace Greeley, Grover Cleveland, and other reformers; Oswald Ottendorfer of the German-language New York Staats-Zeitung newspaper and head of the Anti-Imperialist League, and Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World.

Members of the Democratic Party labeled “Sound Money Democrats” cast votes for President William McKinley and show their support for the “Sound Money” platform of the Republican Party. On the left is a little man representing a faction of the Populist Party, flying a banner with a portrait of William Jennings Bryan; and in the background is the deserted Democratic Party Platform, flying a banner labeled “Democrat No Nomination.”

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The man under the Populist banner is Senator William A. Peffer of Kansas, one of six Populists to serve in the United States Senate. He served one term, 1891-1897, but maintained political ambitions, and Populist ideals. Among the “Gold Democrats’ who stayed loyal to President Cleveland in 1896 and declined to support William Jennings Bryan, some continued to support Republican President McKinley in 1900. This cartoon seems more appropriate for 1896, but shows how shunned Bryan was among some Democrats with long memories and “Sound Money” principles. They are not labeled, but some of Democrats shown voting for McKinley are (foreground) John M. Palmer, the so-called National Democratic Party candidate for President in 1896; and (background, with shaded spectacles) William C. Whitney, who had been President Cleveland’s Secretary of the Navy. Whitney was a hunting partner of Theodore Roosevelt, and whose son Harry married Gertrude Vanderbilt, founder of the Whitney Museum of Art; and whose other son William married Helen Hay, poet and daughter of Roosevelt’s Secretary of State John Hay. The daughter of Harry and Gertrude was Flora Payne Whitney, who engaged to be married to Theodore’s son Quentin when the latter was killed in aerial combat in World War I.

Illustration showing President William McKinley as a chicken labeled “Republican Party” cackling at a duck labeled “Expansion” swimming in a pond labeled “Free Trade.” The caption reads, “No use cackling – ducks will swim.”

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President McKinley’s name was synonymous with high tariffs after the 1890 McKinley Tariff substantially raised rates. This cartoon illustrates his opposition to any new American territories and possessions receiving free-trade benefits in the wake of the Spanish-American War. Some of them eventually did enjoy such economic favors, but Puck, traditionally a free-trade journal, posted warning signals such as this cartoon. It was published soon after a Presidential position paper was delivered on the subject.

Illustration showing two men escorting Admiral George Dewey down a street, on the left is a man labeled “McLean” and on the right is Joseph Pulitzer. On the left side of the street is the “Democratic Museum” and on the right of the street is the “Republican Museum,” and a sign on the left is directing them to the convention hall.

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Despite appearing that the men, right and left, might be recommending the saloons to Dewey, they are in fact husting him past them to the Democrat presidential convention. After his adulation in the United States as the hero of Manila Bay — a smashing naval victory in the Spanish-American War — Admiral George Dewey was seduced by the clarion call of politics. Democrats, especially those who feared that another William Jennings Bryan candidacy would lead to defeat again, persuaded him to explore the possibility of running for the presidency in 1900. Two such Democrats were publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who boosted Dewey in his newspapers, including the New York World, and Dewey’s informal political adviser and brother-in-law William R. McLean, publisher of The Washington Post and The Cincinnati Enquirer, and part owner of the Cincinnati Red Stockings baseball team. Dewey embroiled himself in awkward public situations and his putative candidacy never gained traction.