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Photocopy of a photograph of Quentin Roosevelt and Archibald “Archie” B. Roosevelt–incorrectly identified– with the White House police. A quote by Alice Roosevelt Longworth about the White House Secret Service is included below the photograph.
Unknown
A “politician” rushes forward and demands President Roosevelt call off three “secret service” dogs who have treed a man labeled “post office scam.” Roosevelt stands resolutely with arms crossed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-27
President Roosevelt wears his “imperialism” crown and holds his “big stick” as he bounces down the bumps labelled “liars,” “Secret Service,” and “Tillman” of the “Sixtieth Congress.”
One of James Calvert Smith’s virtual farewell drawings (the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt had about six weeks remaining) was almost a textbook example of an ad hominem attack cartoon.
In the first cartoon, a lion runs toward President Roosevelt writing on a notepad labeled “The African Chickadee ($3.00).” In the second cartoon, the lion gets close to pouncing on Roosevelt who holds a paper. In the third cartoon, Roosevelt opens the paper and shows the lion what it says: “Secret Service Report on Lions (To be given to the press in case I am attacked) (Copy).” In the fourth cartoon, Roosevelt runs toward the lion.
Chicago cartoonist Ralph Wilder, the stylistic disciple of John T. McCutcheon, combined two thematic preoccupations of the day’s news, attempting a new treatment of both. The imbroglio between the White House and Capitol Hill over the president’s request to expand the role of the Secret Service was already months old when this cartoon was drawn.
President Roosevelt holds a “Secret Service” big stick and rides a bucking “Congress” horse that says, “You ain’t goin’ to whip me!” The “Senate” looks on and says, “My, how reckless!”
The majority of headlines after the election of William H. Taft were devoted to the wrangle between the White House and Congress, and the many-factored fallout, over the expansion of the Secret Service. President Roosevelt was eager to quash yellow-press allegations of financial improprieties related to the Panama Canal; and the public was curious about Roosevelt’s plans for his Africa safari. Otherwise the issues swirling around the Secret Service disputes dominated the news.
President Roosevelt is teaching in a schoolroom of chaos as President-elect William H. Taft opens the “Congress” door. The “House Resentment Committee” throws items at the president who holds his big stick. There are two notes on the blackboard: “Our teacher is no good. B. T.” and “Do we love our Teacher?” Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker and South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman fold paper airplanes while Maine Senator Eugene Hale tries to take a “naval appropriations” stick. Caption: Getting square with the old teacher.
President Roosevelt might go down in posterity as a strict disciplinarian, and he did deserve many of the characterizations of his leadership talents. But many presidents have endured Congresses that, collectively and in its individual members, asserted their independence, sometimes outright rebellion, even regarding a president of the majority’s party.
President Roosevelt holds up South Carolina Senator Benjamin R. Tillman–labeled “Exhibit A”–with “Tillman’s fork.” Caption: Why the Secret Service Department Should Investigate Congress–Exhibit A.
The controversy over the expansion of the Secret Service, its responsibilities and mission, had expanded beyond President Roosevelt’s proposal to Congress in his 1908 Annual Message. In fact the disagreement had escalated from Congress’s dismissal. Roosevelt implied that Congressmen feared a new investigatory agency; House and Senate members made angry speeches, some of a personal nature against the president; and a bitter resolution of censure was sent to the White House.
President Roosevelt smiles and holds his “Secret Service” big stick as the “Pa Congress” shakes his fist at Roosevelt and holds a “rebuke” shoe, saying, “Now will you behave?”
The Philadelphia North American was a consistent supporter of Theodore Roosevelt through the years. In 1912 it became one of the Progressive Party’s main organs, and its publisher, Edwin A. Van Valkenburg, later served on the Publications Committee of the young Roosevelt Memorial Association.
In the top left hand corner, “Ananias” and “Munchausen” speak. Ananias says, “Our Congressmen and Senators are poor but honest. To my personal knowledge they would scorn to hire out to trusts and monopolies.” Munchhausen says, “The delicate and retiring modesty of the president would make it impossible for him to assume any authority not given him by the Constitution.” Caption: A–Prominent liars who have inside information regarding fight between President and Congress. In the top right hand corner, two letters are visible. One reads: “My dear Senator, Our Trust is overjoyed at your good work for us in Congress. I enclose check as per your request. Archbold.” The other reads: “My dear Harriman, You and I are practical men. Come and see me after dark and bring some campaign funds. Knock once and whistle three times. T. R.” Caption: B–Important documents which have mysteriously disappeared. In the middle on the left side, “Congress” and President Roosevelt step on “the common people,” who says, “Lemme up. Caption: C–Innocent bystander who is endangered by fight. In the middle on the right side, “Crooked Trusts and Corporations” laughs with arrows pointing to his face. Caption: D–Interested party greatly worried over outcome of fight. (Arrows show expression of anxiety). At the bottom, Roosevelt talks to the “Secret Service Dep’t.” He says, “Meet me in the ruined mill at midnight with evidence against the Senators and Congressmen. Remem-bar-r!” The “Secret Service Dep’t” replies, “I will be ther-r-re!” Caption: F–Scene from forthcoming melodrama entitled “Why Senator Scrubbs Left Home, or No Mother to Guide Him.”
The brilliant Frederick Burr Opper, often called “The Mark Twain of Cartooning,” was on one of the most influential political cartoonists of his generation; his career spanned the 1870s to the 1930s. Prominent outlets he appeared in were Puck magazine until 1899, and the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst until 1932.
President Roosevelt holds a “special message” torch that lights up the area–“exposure of congressional strangling of Secret Service.” A man brings a covered platter labeled “resolution to expunge from record.”
The controversy over the expansion of the Secret Service had grown from a presidential request to address new forms of corruption and crime that were not currently addressed if they crossed between states. President Roosevelt assessed that the Secret Service, already in existence but restricted to presidential protection and chasing counterfeiters, was best suited to build upon. For a passel of reasons Congress repeatedly rebuffed the proposals.
President Roosevelt wears a mask and sits at a desk with Secret Service reports. On the wall are “Rogue’s Gallery no. 1–Members of Congress,” a “list of undesirable citizens–Harriman, Rockefeller, Foraker, Haskell, and Tilman,” and a March 1909 calendar. On the other wall is a sign–“Old Sleuth Hawkshaw & Co.: Private Investigations. Shadowing”–and some disguises, including “mollycoddle masks,” “Ananias masks,” “malefactors of great wealth,’ and a coat “for the frivolous judge disguise.” On the ground are “gum shoes” and a “Muck Rake” cat.
As President Roosevelt’s term drew to a close, many Democratic cartoonists who had routinely criticized him continued without abatement. Other partisans seized the opportunity to increase their level of bitterness and ridicule while he was on his way out.
Minnesota Representative James A. Tawney and Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon use a crosscut saw and Iowa Representative Walter I. Smith uses a hatchet to cut “Roosevelt’s big stick” into pieces. “Congress” holds a gun to a “Secret Service” dog and says, “Halt” while a group of men look on: Edward Henry Harriman, a “gov’t grafter,” a “trust,” a “gov’t land grabber,” and a “timber thief.” The United States Capitol building is in the background.
An inevitable aspect of lame-duck politicians is that opponents generally can be freed of threats of retaliation. As President Roosevelt essentially made himself a four-year lame duck by declining in advance to succeed himself with the election-night announcement in 1904, he brought a challenge upon himself. Uniquely, much of the reform president’s opposition came from within his own party, the Republicans’ Old Guard.
President Roosevelt drops a “Secret Service message to Congress–to be delivered Monday” into a U. S. collection mailbox as the “House” and the “Senate” look on, asking, “Wonder what’s in it?”
This cartoon appeared the day before President Roosevelt’s reply to an exceptional rebuke by the Congress — much debated and awkwardly worded — over the stand-off regarding Roosevelt’s proposed increase in the Secret Service’s duties.
Uncle Sam watches in horror as “Congress” looks down the barrels of a double-barreled shotgun labeled “Roosevelt’s Secret Service report on Congress” and asks, “Wonder if there’s anything in it?”
As a new year dawned and the Roosevelt administration drew to a close, the hottest issue of the hour, scarcely remembered today, was the controversy over the Secret Service. A month earlier, a long-standing feud over Congress’s refusal to expand its responsibilities as requested by President Roosevelt, boiled over. The President implied in his Annual Message that Congressmen were afraid of being themselves investigated.
A “Congress” dog grabs onto President Roosevelt’s coat and utters: “G-r-r-r–Secret–Service–Row–G-r-r.” Roosevelt attempts to hit the dog with a “Message” big stick.
It is remarkable how much of his legislative agenda President Roosevelt achieved in his two terms. During his presidency there were major shifts in social and industrial conditions in America; new sets of challenges borne of economic expansion, unprecedented immigration, prosperity, and trade; business corruption, exposes by the Muckraking press, and political reform; the birth of the Regulatory State, a Wall Street Panic, and a growing tide of radicalism among voters and some elected officials.
President Roosevelt holds a hand of cards that reads “Secret Service reports” as he looks at the cards labeled “resolution” in front of men labeled the “House” and the “Senate.” The former asks, “What you got?” and the latter says, “Think I’ll take a look.”
Researchers in generations subsequent to the publication of this cartoon likely would receive the wrong impression of the issue that inspired it. The dispute between President Roosevelt and the Congress over his repeated requests that the Secret Service be expanded in scope, and Congress’s continual rebuffs, had grown in intensity and violent condemnations; it exploded after immoderate remarks in the recent Annual Message to Congress.
The “60th Congress” holds a paddle with nails and taps President Roosevelt on the shoulder. Roosevelt’s handprints are over himself and the ground. Beside Roosevelt is a container of “Secret Service jam.” Congress tells Roosevelt, “Explain yourself, sir!!”
The controversy — rather an ugly dispute — between President Roosevelt and the Congress of the United States was fodder for political cartoonists. The simple disagreement over whether the nation needed, and Congress would authorize, a new federal investigatory agency, was the genesis. Like Poppy, it just grew: the president thought it a simple and reasonable matter; Congress rebuffed his requests. Roosevelt lobbied strenuously and went public with his reasons; Congress ever more dismissed Roosevelt’s many requests and messages as his administration drew to a close.
President Roosevelt holds a torch as he walks through a cellar of gunpowder. There are two signs: “for Representatives” and “for Senators.” Behind him are the “Secret Service sleuths” and in front of him is a “muckrake” cat.
W. A. Rogers depicted the president of the United States channeling the “gunpowder plotter” Guy Fawkes of English history.
President Roosevelt rolls up his sleeves and holds his big stick in his right hand. There are papers on the ground: “Secret Service report,” “Evidence of crooked politics against certain members of Congress,” and “Damagin evidence against congressmen.” Two men–the “House” and the “Senate”–watch from the side, saying “You tackle ‘im” and “No. You.” Caption: Roosevelt: “By George, I wish they’d just start something!”
The inspiration for this political cartoon by Jay N. “Ding” Darling was a brief but explosive passage in Theodore Roosevelt’s Annual Message the previous week. The president addressed (and not for the first time, which surely fueled his frustrated intemperance) what he deemed an essential expansion of the scope, powers, and budgets of the Secret Service. The short argument was accompanied by sarcastic curiosity — was Congress afraid that a new investigative agency would discover things about them?
On the left side, President Roosevelt holds a “message” firearm that shoots projectiles at “The Capitol.” Caption: The president’s message was loaded after all. On the right sign are two different vignettes: a scene of men looking at papers with the caption of “scene in Senate after hearing of the Secret Service paragraph” and a drawing of Vice President-elect J. S. Sherman. At the bottom, Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon bangs two gavels at different times and damages them. Caption: Speaker Cannon smashed gavels in rapid succession.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-16