Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

A wave labeled “Republican Voters’ Revolt” crashes into the dining room of a ship where “Cannon, Payne, Taft, Knox, Sherman, Root, Aldrich, Woodruff, Dalzell, Crane, Wickersham, Lodge, Parsons, Hitchcock, Depew, Hale, Elkins, Ballinger, Smoot, Penrose, [and] Cox” are dining, and upsets a dish of “Party Plums,” as well as a bottle of “Stalwart Grog.” Caption: “We were crowded in the cabin, / Not a soul would dare to sleep; / It was midnight o’er the waters, / And a storm was on the deep.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-04-20

President Taft, as Alexander the Great, is accompanied by James S. Sherman, Sereno E. Payne, Nelson W. Aldrich, Joseph G. Cannon, and George W. Wickersham. They stand before Uncle Sam, shown as Diogenes. Uncle Sam sits at the base of an overturned dome in the shadows cast by Taft and the others who are blocking his sun. The sun shows the face of Theodore Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-04-27

The Republican elephant lowers President Taft from a window in a burning building to Theodore Roosevelt as a fireman on a ladder. Billowing clouds of smoke labeled “Consumers Revolt” engulf the building.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-05-04

In the left background, “Mount Sam” is erupting, spewing lava labeled “Revolt Against Cannonism, Havens’ Victory in New York, Indiana Upheaval, Increased Cost of Living, Demand for Lower Tariff, Democratic Gains, Consumer’s Revolt, [and] Western Insurgency” which is flowing toward an area labeled “Republican Majority in Congress.” In the left foreground, Nelson W. Aldrich and Eugene Hale flee the scene, while Joseph G. Cannon stands firm as the “Foss Landslide in Massachusetts” races toward him. On the right, President Taft with “Lodge, Root, Depew, Crane, [and] Payne appeal to a shrine containing a diminutive “Saint Ted.” On the far right, James S. Sherman is praying. Caption: Appeals to a patron saint to stop its flow.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-05-11

President Taft, as a cowboy, sits alone next to a campfire and a chuck wagon labeled “Stand-Pat or Bust.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-05-18

President William H. Taft speaks from the back of a railroad caboose to a large crowd of skeptical mid-westerners that also includes Jonathan P. Dolliver, Robert M. La Follette, and Albert Baird Cummins. One man is holding a sign that states, “We’re from Missouri also Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Dakota & Iowa. Show us!” Taft is holding papers behind his back that state, “Notes for speech how new tariff will benefit the West.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-09-15

President Taft sits in a rocking chair, tangled in yarn from balls labeled “Conservation, Rail Road Legislation, Postal Savings Tax, Income Tax, [and] Corporation Tax” that have fallen onto the floor and are the playthings of three cats labeled “The House, Senate, [and] The Cabinet” and a dog labeled “The Courts.” One ball of yarn labeled “My Policies” remains in a box shaped like the U.S. Capitol. Theodore Roosevelt is watching, disapprovingly, from a window on the side of the room.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-06-22

President Taft, as a photographer, works in a darkroom illuminated by a small red light labeled “Public Support,” developing glass plates labeled “Progressive Measures.” One labeled “Tariff Reform Plate” is “Botched.” He is using “Cannon Developer” and “Aldrich Fixing Bath,” which he gets from bottles shaped like the heads of Joseph Cannon and Nelson W. Aldrich. Caption: An amateur photographer who spoils good plates by using bad chemicals.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-03-02

President Taft struggles to dress the Republican elephant in a dress labeled on one side “Reactionaries” and on the other “Insurgents.” He is unable to bring the two sides together in the back in order to fasten them.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-03-16

President Taft, as a hen, sits on eggs labeled “Reform Measures” on a nest that is infested by rats labeled “Cannon, Aldrich, Gallinger, [and] Smoot.” Caption: If the trustful hen doesn’t wake up, there’ll be nothing left but the shells.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-03-30

The “Black Horse Cavalry,” under the leadership of “Woodruff” wearing the red suit of the Devil, is about to charge through a valley toward the “People’s Heavy Artillery,” with the “Taft National Battery” on one side and the “Hughes State Battery” on the other. Overlooking the scene is a cloud with the face of Theodore Roosevelt. Caption: Woodruff’s Albany Dragoons have a hunch that “some one has blundered.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-04-06

President William H. Taft directs male and female dancers on a stage in a production of “Princess Prosperity,” a script for which he is holding in his right hand. The male dancers hold empty wallets and the female dancers each carry a “Family Market Basket,” which is also empty. Caption: Stage-Director Taft – Smile! Smile like I do! Smile all – Smile!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-09-08

President Taft, as a rooster, has members of his flock labeled “Tawney, Ballinger, Aldrich, [and] Cannon,” as well as J. S. Sherman, under his wings. In the background, on the left, the sun labeled “Progressive Policies” rises. Caption: But the sun will rise whether he forgets to crow or not.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-04-13

President Taft, as a blindfolded cupid labeled “Party Solidarity,” wears a quiver labeled “Harmony” and stands against a backdrop of a large red heart. He is holding strings attached to four birds labeled “Root, Wickersham, Knox, [and] Aldrich,” and two strings attached to arrows that have been shot through hearts labeled “Insurgent” and “Reactionary.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-02-09

Score and lyrics for a slow two-step endorsing Theodore Roosevelt under the Bull-Moose Progressive Party nomination in the 1912 presidential election.

Collection

Gregory A. Wynn Theodore Roosevelt Collection

Creation Date

1912

Score and lyrics written about The Great Chicago Fair of 1893, rereleased in 1912 with a cover depicting TR and Taft brawling in front of Uncle Sam and the Capitol. Arranged by William Loraine.

Collection

Gregory A. Wynn Theodore Roosevelt Collection

Creation Date

1893, 1912

William H. Taft and William Jennings Bryan, as Native Americans, sit by their tepees. Taft is heating his full dinner pail over a small fire, and Bryan is beating on a drum labeled “Discontent.” J. S. Sherman and John W. Kern are sitting on the ground among a group of others standing in the background.

comments and context

Comments and Context

“Making Medicine” is the first major political cartoon in Puck by the illustrator and cartoonist Will Crawford who, like the magazine’s owner and chief political cartoonist Udo J. Keppler, was a proponent of Indian rights, a student of Native American lore, and eventually an honorary member of tribes. Frequently, therefore, Crawford used Native American traditions, customs, and dress in his cartoons; virtually never is disrespect.

A man labeled “Consumer” walks with crutches labeled “Free Oil” and “Free Hides,” and is heavily wrapped with bandages labeled “Free Valerianic, Free Cerium, Free Acorns, Gambier, Fossils, Free Orange Peel, Free Spunk, Coir, Rennets, Free Aniline Salts, Ipecac, Divi-Divi, Free Manganese, Free Turtles, Rags, Plumbago, Insects, Tonquin, Teeth, Free Brazilian Pebble, Free Pulu Litmus, [and] Free Rope ends.” He has just been discharged from the “United States Congressional Clinic” where “Matron Taft” stands at the door and doctors “Sherman, Payne, Aldrich, [and] Cannon” watch from a window as they clean their medical instruments.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-08-25

A battered diminutive football player labeled “The Plain People” tells President Taft, as an umpire, that a player labeled “Aldrich” for the opposing team is playing a dirty game, breaking the rules and cheating, but Taft never penalizes him for his actions. Caption: “He slugs me every chance he gets, and you can’t or won’t see it.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-11-10

President Taft leads the Republican elephant in circles, creating a rut. Among those riding the elephant are Joseph G. Cannon, Nelson W. Aldrich, and James S. Sherman.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1909-11-10