Rockefeller, John D. (John Davison), 1839-1937

President Roosevelt regrets missing Nicholas Murray Butler, as they have much to discuss. Roosevelt has feared an economic recession because of the recklessness of the financial sector and it is now coming to pass. He is certain that the newspapers entrenched on Wall Street will need to accept that his policies are here to stay, even once he leaves office. The President is concerned that so many of the richest Americans ally themselves with corrupt interests, and himself favors the common people over the dishonest elites. He believes that the Republicans should put off revising the tariff until after the next general election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-20

President Roosevelt is “deluged with letters” criticizing his recent actions. He sends Lawrence F. Abbott, editor of The Outlook, copies of letters to a college president and a newspaper editor, which he can later show to reputable people who are unaware of the results “if I should follow the course of action they advise.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-24

President Roosevelt rebukes David Scull, a trustee of Bryn Mawr College, for his ignorance in blaming the recent economic fluctuations on Roosevelt’s “action in enforcing the law against wealthy wrong-doers.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-16

Effie M. Record has just been elected as President of the National Auxiliary, Spanish War Veterans and is writing to Theodore Roosevelt to request help obtaining donations from wealthy Americans to meet the needs of the organization. Record provides many statistics and financial details.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-03

Attorney Otto Gresham sends President Roosevelt a letter from Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Gresham shares his views, as well as the views of various local lawyers and judges, on Landis’s actions and the proceedings of the Standard Oil case. Gresham also summarizes the conversations he had with Landis regarding the potential reversal of the case and the imposition of the fine. After discussing the history of law in Britain, Gresham concludes that the people support Roosevelt in his actions to control the corporations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-04

Editor of the Ohio State Journal Robert Frederick Wolfe informs President Roosevelt’s secretary that Wolfe met with Charles Phelps Taft, Representative Theodore E. Burton, and Secretary of the Republican National Committee Elmer Dover. Wolfe engaged in these meetings to learn about Taft’s interests and a possible compromise with Senator Joseph B. Foraker, but says that Dover tried to improperly influence Wolfe’s newspaper. Wolfe claims to have uncovered a plot involving William Randolph Hearst to control both the Democratic and Republican national conventions and the presidential election. Wolfe claims that Franklin Rockefeller told him in an off-the-record interview that moneyed interests from New York were planning to create a financial panic to disrupt Roosevelt’s policies. Wolfe says he is coming to Washington, D.C., to discuss this, but asks that Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield not be told.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-04-08

Brander Matthews thanks President Roosevelt for sending him J. J. Jusserand’s note regarding his Legion of Honor award. He tells Roosevelt about a New Years card he saw that involved Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller, and boxer James J. Jeffries.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-09

A tall President Roosevelt holds a big stick as a variety of groups hurl objects at him, including “so-called innocent stockholders,” “wrongdoing lawyers,” “railroad debaters,” “nature fakirs,” “undesirable citizens,” “purchased politicians,” and the “liars brigade.” John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Edward Henry Harriman are prominent figures in the center.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Theodore Roosevelt, as president or at any time in his career, famously was a master of what a historian has called “The Art of Controversy.” At the least he did not shy from debates and even vivid disagreements. When he thought newspapers engaged in fake news, he threatened to sue (The New York World and its publisher Joseph Pulitzer in one example). He was not chary of calling opponents liars, and he rhetorically consigned political enemies to what he called the “Ananias Club,” after the New Testament figure who was struck dead by the Holy Spirit for lying about his offerings.

In the first vignette, an African American man is labeled as the “proposed usher of the black rod.” In the second vignette, Secretary of War William H. Taft is labeled, “a nifty lord-in-waiting–waiting still for the nomination.” In the third vignette, Gifford Pinchot holds a tennis racket and is labeled, “first lord of the inner closet, with insignia of office.” In the fourth vignette, Henry Huttleston Rogers, Edward Henry Harriman, and John D. Rockefeller are labeled, “a group of bad barons in attitutes expressive of deep dissatisfaction and possible rebellion. In the fifth vignette is a “suggestion for royal coat of arms.” There is the big stick–;”Of course there can be but one sceptre.” The coat of arms includes the motto, “In votes we trust to bust the trusts.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Many political and editorial cartoonists drew variations on the themes of the interests and activities of Theodore Roosevelt. As a cognoscente and polymath, the president offered inspiration enough, but his famous strenuosity added to the visual possibilities. Few cartoonists captured so many of the possibilities offered by the many-sided Roosevelt, and Garnet Warren found his “hook” when a professor from Michigan — presumably a hagiographic assessment, as Michigan was one of the nation’s most progressive states at the time — observed that the president was a virtual monarch in the glory of his presidency of the republic.

A man looks at “Doctor Cortelyou” and holds a bag of “$: Dr. Hayseed’s pills” while Uncle Sam lies incapacitated in a bed. Cortelyou says, “I’ve made a careful diagnosis of Uncle’s case, and I think your pills will put him on his feet.” President Roosevelt looks on and says, “I hope Uncle will get no worse.” J. Pierpont Morgan says to John D. Rockefeller, “They are very much alarmed about the condition of Uncle. I’m afraid John, the last dose you gave him didn’t do him any good. They don’t seem to think much of your skill when they called in a country practitioner.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The focus of this cartoon was that of the entire nation itself, a bare month into the Wall Street Panic of 1907. Cartoonist J. F. Collins had greater fame and a longer career as a strip cartoonist for Sunday newspapers than for political cartoons. “A Serious Case” is indeed a case study of why the case was so serious.

President Roosevelt celebrates his forty-ninth birthday with a variety of friends. In the upper left hand corner at the piano are New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes and Thomas Fortune Ryan singing, “Oh let us be joyful.” Booker T. Washington tells Henry Watterson, “Henry, I hope you’ll come down and visit me at Tuskegee.” Senator Joseph Benson Foraker says to Secretary of War William H. Taft, “I heard a good story today, Will.” Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon and Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks look at a picture of George Washington, and Fairbanks says, “That picture makes me sad. It reminds me of cherries.” William Randolph Hearst, James Roscoe Day, and Secretary of State Elihu Root look at a book of “Snapshots in New York.” William Jennings Bryan and Grover Cleveland play a game of checkers, and Bryan says, “After you, Grover.” J. Pierpont Morgan watches over the game with his hand on Bryan’s back. Henry Huttleston Rogers, F. Augustus Heinze, and Thomas William Lawson sit together. Lawson says, “Rogers, my boy, you must come over to Boston and visit me.” John D. Rockefeller points at Kenesaw Mountain Landis’s chest while President Roosevelt presents a bouquet to James J. Hill as William J. Long looks on. Finally, James T. Harahan, Edward Henry Harriman, and Stuyvesant Fish read “Snap Shots Along the Illinois Central.” Harriman remarks, “Very nice album, Stuyvesant, is it not?”

comments and context

Comments and Context

There are contexts behind this cartoon by John T. McCutcheon of The Chicago Tribune that might not be apparent to modern researchers. The first is somewhat evident by reading the dialog balloons between figures in the pairings or clusters. Almost appropriate for an April Fool’s cartoon instead of something closer to Halloween is the ironic juxtaposition in every case — political opponents or business rivals exchanging niceties. In fact, insights might be gained by reading the nature of their “about-face” encounters.

Uncle Sam eyes “Wall St.,” J. Pierpont Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller holding up a large “financial panic” rock. The man labeled Wall St. says, “It’s o.k. We have it safe.” President Roosevelt also looks on, holding a bear under his right arm and a rifle in his left hand.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-24

William Loeb holds “Speech No. 1 Canton” in his left hand and a barrel in his right hand labeled “six speeches for western delivery.” Several men look on, including “Wall Street,” J. Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Edward Henry Harriman. Morgan says, “Oh, for a look in.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

President Roosevelt’s private secretary William Loeb advanced from taking dictation and handling White House correspondence to managing logistics and sometimes, at the end of Roosevelt’s term, interacting with officials and politicians

While hidden, President Roosevelt watches two men who look like hobos, Edward Henry Harriman and John D. Rockefeller, march toward “Sagamore Hill.” There are two signs on the mountain, “Beware of Pete” (President Roosevelt’s bulldog) and “Keep off the grass.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon by Kirk L. Russell in The Washington Post was published two months to the day before the Wall Street Panic, a “banker’s crisis” that financier J. P. Morgan helped to keep from becoming a Depression.

President Roosevelt with a teddy bear nearby awakes from slumber and sees the ghosts of Edward Henry Harriman, J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Huttleston Rogers, and John D. Rockefeller.

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Comments and Context

The young Clifford Kennedy Berryman employed lines from the Eugene Field poem “Seein’ Things,” in this cartoon. His references for the boogymen scaring President Roosevelt in bed were unfortunately photos of the smiling robber barons John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, Edward Henry Harriman, and Henry Huttleston Rogers. They are out of perspective, and too genial, to be appropriate in the drawing.

On the “then” side stands a short President Roosevelt holding a paper that reads, “Railroad Regulation Proposition.” Surrounding him are railroad magnates that are saying, “Oh, I must smile,” “‘Tis to laugh!” and “Hee haw!” On the “now” side stands an extremely tall Roosevelt with railroad magnates bowing at his feet.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Two days after a notable White House meeting between President Roosevelt and J. Pierpont Morgan, representing the nation’s major railroad interests, cartoonist Clifford Kennedy Berryman drew this cartoon about the adjusted perceptions of power-figures in the momentous legislative and regulatory wrangles over consolidation, routes, and rates.

President Roosevelt points to handwriting on the wall, “Regulation or Revolution?”, as he sits at a table with J. Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Huttleston Rogers.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist Albert J. Taylor was earnest in his spin on a popular political-cartoon inspiration, the writing on the wall. Other than a wall, and writing, and perhaps an interrupted feast, any parallels to the Book of Daniel and Belshazzar’s Feast are elusive.

President Roosevelt rows a boat with “Morton” and “Loomis” paddles with an “H” flag while John D. Rockefeller rows a boat with “tainted money” and “rebates” paddles with a “Y” flag. In the background is a “higher ideals” buoy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-30

In the first vignette, Benjamin B. Odell pulls New York Senator Thomas Collier Platt’s leg as he holds onto a tree. Caption: Rubber. In the second vignette, President Roosevelt—”the good fairy”—holds a “power” wand and taps an “inter-state commerce bill” on the stomach of the “oppressive trusts.” Caption: Roosevelt, “Tag, you’re it.” In the third vignette, John D. Rockefeller pours “Standard oil” into “Congressional waters.” Caption: In his great act.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-14

Nelson W.Aldrich and John D. Rockefeller appear as dark-skinned men wearing skirts labeled “Gold Dust.” Aldrich stands on top of a replica of a building labeled “Stock Exchange” and holds up a replica of the U.S. Capitol building. Rockefeller stands on the ground next to him, holding up an oil can labeled “Standard Oil” and a wallet stuffed with money. Uncle Sam stands to the left, in the foreground, stroking his beard, with a concerned look on his face. Caption: (You might as well, Uncle. They’ll do it, anyway.)

comments and context

Comments and Context

The seemingly curious depiction of Senator Nelson W. Aldrich and Standard Oil’s John D. Rockefeller as little native boys is explained by the background of the cartoon. This was a parody of the popular, now obscure, brand of cleansing powder, Gold Dust Cleanser. Cartoonist J. S. Pughe clearly thought that calling the Senator and the tycoon “twins” was dispositive — and the implication presented by the word “gold.” The composition of the drawing is taken straight from a Gold Dust magazine advertisement drawn by E. W. Kemble, an occasional Puck cartoonist.