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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.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-11-10
President Taft, as a railroad brakeman, stands atop a freight car labeled “Administration Route.” He is waving to a woman labeled “Reactionary Politics” driving an automobile. The train is headed for a tunnel labeled “Revolt of the West.” Above the train is a bar labeled “Insurgent Movement” from which strips of rope are hanging, labeled “Burkett, Beveridge, Brown, Nelson, Clapp, Cummins, Dolliver, Bristow, [and] La Follette,” an insurgent group of senators who broke with Taft’s policies. Includes note: “A telltale is a bar to which strips of leather or rope are attached to warn brakemen on freight trains when they are approaching a bridge or a tunnel.” Caption: But there is still time to duck.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-11-17
President Taft struggles to conduct an orchestra composed of two groups of musicians. On the left, playing the “Eastern Conservatism” on stringed instruments, are “Root, Crane, Smoot, Depew, Aldrich, [and] Gallinger.” On the right, playing the “Western Conservatism” on horns and percussion instruments, are “Knute Nelson, Dolliver, Cummins, Clapp, Bristow, [and] La Follette.” Caption: Pity the poor leader of the Washington Symphony Orchestra.
Uncle Sam inspects a large alarm clock with the face of President Taft and a ringer labeled “Roosevelt Policies.” The hand on the clock shows it is nearing the end of Taft’s “First Year” in office. Caption: Set for March 4, 1909, and it hasn’t gone off yet.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1910-01-05
William Jennings Bryan shows a model sailboat labeled “Personal Popularity” to Uncle Sam. Hanging on the wall in the background is a keel labeled “Principle” and identified as the “Taft Model.” Caption: Uncle Sam — Your sail’s all right, son; but where’s your keel?
“The Same Old Model” might have been the most pro-Bryan cartoon Puck Magazine ran. Cartoonist L. M. Glackens actually conceded that William Jennings Bryan, the presidential candidate in 1908 (after two failed Democratic campaigns for the office) had personal popularity.
An annoyed Uncle Sam sits against a full moon with his hands over his ears. He is caught between the noise of the “G.O.P. Salvation Army” with William H. Taft on the bass drum and James S. Sherman on the cymbals, and “The Bryan Volunteers of America” with William Jennings Bryan also on the bass drum, Samuel Gompers on the cymbals, John W. Kern singing, Alton B. Parker with a large bell, and Henry Watterson with a tambourine, among others. Uncle Sam has papers labeled “Agricultural Prospects” and “Industrial Reports” spread across his lap, “Crop Forecast” in his pocket, and is sitting on papers labeled “Resumption of Business.”
In 1880, Joseph Keppler, founder of Puck and father of Udo J. Keppler, who drew this cartoon, published a similar drawing of partisans of Ulysses S. Grant as the “Political Army of Salvation” — annoyingly singing, banging drums, and parading on behalf of a third term for Grant.
William Jennings Bryan and William H. Taft drive a stake labeled “Publicity” into the ground in a wilderness area. A rope labeled “Public Opinion” is tied to the stake, and one end is tied to the Democratic donkey’s tail while the other end is tied to one leg of the Republican elephant. Caption: And the green grass grows all ’round.
In mid-August 1908, the presidential campaign between William H. Taft and William Jennings Bryan moved into gear in the public square as well as the pages of opinion journals like Puck. The weekly’s owner and chief cartoonist Udo J. Keppler open the head-to-head contest with “Tethered,” a remarkable drawing for what it implies.
Sepia tone postcard featuring a teddy bear and billy possum clasping paws. In the background, the dome of the United States Capitol is visible. In the upper left corner is a circular photograph of Theodore Roosevelt and in the upper right corner is a circular photograph of President Taft. The caption reads “Good Bye Teddy.” The written message states, “I guess that William will beat him 2 to 1.”
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1909
Set of 10 postcards with photographs of the Panama Canal during its construction. On the reverse side of each card is a short description of the photograph.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1977
President Roosevelt denounces the “representatives of predatory wealth” and congratulates Attorney General Bonaparte and the Department of Justice for enforcing the law against the wealthiest corporations and the most powerful individuals “as resolutely and fearlessly as against the humblest citizen.”
1908-01-02
Former president William H. Taft hands President Wilson an infant wrapped in clothing labeled “Mexican Situation,” holding a knife in one hand and shooting off a handgun with the other.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-03-05
William Jennings Bryan and William H. Taft debate from the rear of a railroad car while whistle-stop campaigning. Vignettes show them working shifts shaking hands, kissing babies, “Awarding Prizes at County Fairs,” exercising by tossing a medicine ball labeled “My Policies,” associating themselves with Theodore Roosevelt, and showing “Affection for the Filipino.”
In another midsummer cartoon that addresses current political event and avoiding issues and partisanship, Puck‘s J. S. Pughe contributes a group of fantasy drawings based on the two Williams, rivals for the presidency in the aftermath of the Republican and Democratic conventions.
William Randolph Hearst holds a harpoon labeled “Independence League” in a small boat labeled “The Comic Supplement” with two cartoon characters in pursuit of two whales that have the faces of William Jennings Bryan and William H. Taft.
After the virtual takeover of the Democratic Party in 1896 by the restive Populist Party and its hybrid politician William Jennings Bryan, there were few candidates as radical as Bryan, beyond former Populists like Thomas E. Watson of Georgia, or Socialists like Eugene V. Debs. One figure who could be more radical on some issues, and was variously a boon and a nettle to Bryan and radical Democrats was New York newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst.
Booklet with a two-page description of the historical effort to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama and specific statistics about the construction and dimensions of the ongoing American effort. The booklet primarily consists of photographs of the construction.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1909-1911
Black ink cartoon composed of seven smaller cartoons, each with a different political commentary. Two cartoons feature Theodore Roosevelt. On the far right, Roosevelt is attempting to shake Senator La Follette off of a wooden horse labeled “Presidency.” On the middle left, Roosevelt has pulled up to the White House with a moving van but President Taft says he will not leave until hearing from the landlord.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1912
Full page, black ink cartoon featuring nine drawings that combine names and characteristics of prominent leaders, such as Theodore Wilson and Woodrow Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1914-1918
A dejected, well-dressed man labeled “The Corporation” sits next to an ice bucket filled with bottles labeled “Wall St. Brand, Privilege Brut, Immunity Fizz, [and] Stand Pat Sec,” while in the background William Jennings Bryan and William H. Taft are holding bottles of “Publicity Lithia.” The “Corporation” man misses those days when Mark Hanna was a driving force in presidential campaigns. Caption: The Wine Agent — Gee! When Mark was alive I opened a case a minute.
It might seem odd that cartoonist Udo J. Keppler chose to delve almost five years in the past to invoke the name of a political boss who wined and dined corporate donors. Mark Hanna, senator and chairman of the Republican National Committee, was a confidant of President William McKinley, a presidential aspirant himself, and friend of the rich and famous, cultivated his party’s connections with policies favored by corporations and trusts.
Woodrow Wilson as a cowboy holds a rope to lasso a bucking horse labeled “Congress,” which has thrown lame duck president William H. Taft, who sits on the ground in tattered clothing. Next to Taft is a letter that states, “Dear William, Come over and have a seat in my Kent Chair of Law. Yours- Yale.” Caption: The Tenderfoot–Ride the beast if you want to. I’m through. Me for a more restful seat!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-02-26
Theodore Roosevelt sits in a chair with a bull moose who is crying and looking up at him. In the background a vision shows crowds cheering as Roosevelt is sworn in as president by Chief Justice Edward D. White, while an old and beaten William H. Taft looks on. Caption: Of all sad words of tongue or pen, / The saddest are these: “It might have been!”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-02-26
A black and white political cartoon showing politicians from Nebraska, New York (Theodore Roosevelt), Ohio (William H. Taft), Indiana, and Illinois as snowmen.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1908-01-08