Your TR Source
Elihu Root will be bringing his wife and daughter, Edith, to Washington, D.C., to see the bronze sculpture of Frederick the Great given to President Roosevelt by German Emperor William II. Root would like to meet with Roosevelt to discuss the recent election results.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-11
Sculptor Frederick William MacMonnies is planning to make a sculpture of Roosevelt astride a horse based on a photograph of him jumping a fence, and asks for Roosevelt’s help in getting some of the details right regarding the clothing he wore.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-01
President Roosevelt stands on one side of a scaffold, holding a large sculpted arm with a huge stick labeled “The Big Stick” for placement on a large sculpture of a female figure labeled “Inter-State Commerce Laws.” On the other side of the scaffold is a man labeled “The Rail Road” directing Nelson W. Aldrich, Stephen B. Elkins, and Joseph Benson Foraker to use instead a much smaller arm labeled “Delay” and “Fines.” Caption: A difference of opinion as to what will fit the lady.
J. S. Pughe’s cartoon is one of the cleverer uses of the Big Stick as an icon during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. The depiction of four men against his lone self is also a fair representation of the opposition Roosevelt faced.
In this vignette cartoon, President Roosevelt and members of his cabinet appear at the center in a meeting. Each has a signboard advertising a patent medicine or other product on their back. Roosevelt’s says, “Strenoline The Famous Vigor Producer A De-Lightful Stimulant, Nervy Mfg. Co, Royster Bay.” Surrounding the central image are scenes showing men, animals, and statues, all with signboards, including an elephant labeled “G.O.P. The Great Tariff Comedian – Continuous Performances.”
One of cartoonist Samuel Ehrhart’s now-standard vignette cartoons in Puck, a topic of the day with variations on a theme, in this double-spread was quite standard. The single concept of advertisements encroaching on daily life is played, and stretched, most of the humor derived from puns or association with names of celebrities and professions. Since the 1880s, Puck had lampooned advertising signs on elevated trains and commercial billboards, so this cartoon focusing on sandwich boards was a variation. Present-day eyes might require details about long-forgotten issues and personalities, however.
Three statues labeled “Cook, Walking Delegate, [and] Head Waiter” stand on the left and three statues labeled “Coachman, Car Porter, [and] Janitor” stand on the right. People are bowing down, kneeling, and performing other acts of veneration before them. In the center, Puck has unfurled a banner showing citizens pulling down the equestrian statue of King George III. Caption: Puck — Where is the spirit of ’76? This is what your forefathers did to King George.
Sometimes a cartoon tells more about its times than its intended point. Cartoonist Ehrhart addresses the vagaries of modern life — the imperious attitudes, approaching arrogance and greed — as routine laborers and employees asserted themselves in modern life. Of course the cartoonist employed hyperbole, characterizing people in these positions as latter-day tyrants.
General Nelson A. Miles tries to push over a monument that states “To the Army in the Philippines in Recognition of a Difficult Task, Well Done.”
General Nelson A. Miles was one of his generation’s most active and decorated soldiers who had not graduated from West Point. He was twice wounded and in the middle of important Civil War conflicts; he was a famous Indian fighter, leading Army troops after notable Indian warriors and tribes (and implicated in some brutalities), served in the Spanish-American War in Cuba and Puerto Rico. He managed to be, throughout his career, however, frequently in the midst of controversy.
A caricature of the Statue of Liberty replaces Liberty with a labor union “Walking Delegate.” His torch is labeled “Lawlessness” and he holds a tablet labeled “Tyranny.” At the base are crowds of immigrants disembarking from boats, as other boats stream across the sea from a location marked with a sign that states “To the Land of the Free.”
A generation earlier, the concept of this cartoonist might have featured only a different label or two. The caricature of the Statue of Liberty might have represented an urban political boss and municipal corruption. Instead, here, the arriving immigrants, depicted in their various native outfits, are confounded by the tyranny of the crooked labor boss, the “Walking Delegate” union organizer, and advocate of violence. At this point in time, this is how many American citizens, not only immigrants, saw a large part of the labor movement.
President Roosevelt giving an oration before the statue of his predecessor
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-12-19
Uniformed men marching past temporary statue of man in buckskin suit holding rifle and saluting.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1905-06-19
Theodore Roosevelt has already called John Wallace Springer’s attention to Alexander Phimister Proctor with as strong an endorsement as he could give.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1917-03-15
In accord with North Dakota Senator Hanna’s request, Theodore Roosevelt sat for sculptor Gustav Vigeland while he was in Oslo, Norway. However, Roosevelt still believes that the statue Hanna wishes to create should be of a cowboy or a pioneer farmer in order to better reflect the frontier days of North Dakota. Roosevelt believes that “no man should ever have a statue until he has been dead some little time.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1910-05-06
President Roosevelt was very interested in Henry Adams’s letter about his sculpture, writing that he had simply taken it for granted that the statue was of a woman, but without attaching any importance to that fact, similar to the way the angels Gabriel or Michael are traditionally portrayed as male.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-17
President Roosevelt tells Gutzon Borglum that he will do his best to convince the nation to accept the gift if it is offered. Roosevelt believes that the sculpted head of Abraham Lincoln that Borglum created should be in the National Capitol.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-01
President Roosevelt asks Gutzon Borglum what he is going to do with a bust of Abraham Lincoln that he sculpted.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-28
President Roosevelt praises Gutzon Borglum for the progress that has been made on the head of Abraham Lincoln.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-17
President Roosevelt tells Solon Hannibal Borglum that he likes the statue of William Owen O’Neill very much, and he has captured O’Neill’s spirit perfectly. He thinks a scene of the Rough Riders in action would be great for the bas-relief.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-29
President Roosevelt informs Frederick William MacMonnies he would love for MacMonnies to make a little statue of Roosevelt. The president suggests depicting himself in khaki, but not jumping a fence, as the horses with which he jumps have short tails while the horses he “rode in the war had long tails.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-19
President Roosevelt encloses a letter from a sculptor for Andrew Carnegie to consider at his leisure. Roosevelt would like this artist to make a fountain for the Capitol, but has not been able to convince “a sufficient number of statesmen at the other end of the Avenue” to agree.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-18
President Roosevelt introduces William Allen White, who would like to speak to Governor Francis about having some sculptures by Edward Kemeys at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-23
President Roosevelt would like Augustus Saint-Gaudens to sculpt the bust.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-12-30