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

Theodore Roosevelt appears as “Mikado Roosevelt” with a large cast of characters standing behind him: “Pish Tush Root,” “Landis,” “Pooh Bah Taft,” “Burroughs,” “Heney,” “Cortelyou,” “Steffens,” “La Follette,” “Folk,” “Garfield,” “Riis,” “Loeb,” and “Koko Bonaparte,” who is holding a large sword labeled “Department of Justice.” John D. Rockefeller labeled “Flim-Flam Business,” and Edward Henry Harriman labeled “Flim Flam Finance,” are kneeling on the stage awaiting execution. Caption: “My object all sublime / I shall achieve in time — / To let the punishment fit the crime — / The punishment fit the crime. — / And make each prisoner pent / Unwillingly represent / A source of infinite merriment, / Of infinite merriment.”

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Comments and Context

Cartoonists in Puck and rival magazine like Judge and Life, as well as newspaper political cartoonists, frequently turned to operas, mythology, and Shakespeare for metaphorical and allegorical setting for their cartoons. Despite their current popularity, the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan seldom inspired the cartoonists to parody.

Theodore Roosevelt was pleased and interested to learn from J. A. Peters about the work he did in Sequoyah County of Oklahoma for the campaign. Roosevelt was also interested in the information Peters provided on the actions of the workers supporting President Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-05-28

A live electrical wire spelling “Vice Presidency” drips red drops as it dangles between potential candidates in the upcoming presidential election: Charles Evans Hughes, Philander C. Knox, Joseph Benson Foraker, George B. Cortelyou, William H. Taft, Joseph Gurney Cannon, and Charles W. Fairbanks. Caption: If you touch it, you’re a dead one.

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Comments and Context

Why would the vice presidency be regarded as a dangerous “live wire,” something to be avoided, especially by presidential aspirants, especially when the current president had succeeded to the White House as a vice president of an assassinated Chief Executive?

A white cat wearing a bow labeled “Nomination” is being courted by other cats who represent potential candidates in the upcoming presidential election. Two other cats peer over walls in the background. Those depicted are Philander C. Knox, Leslie M. Shaw, Charles Evans Hughes, Charles W. Fairbanks, William H. Taft, Joseph Gurney Cannon, Joseph Benson Foraker, and George B. Cortelyou. In the background are Timothy L. Woodruff and Albert J. Beveridge.

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Comments and Context

As the mid-summer Republican presidential nominating convention drew closer, Puck magazine seemed ever more determined to start a cat-fight between politicians who might otherwise have harbored White House ambitions. But President Roosevelt, having disclaimed interest in succeeding himself in 1908 — and wanting at all costs to secure the nomination for Secretary of War William H. Taft, and avert intraparty squabbles — managed to frustrate any potential rivals to Taft.

Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft stand in the center of a gathering of Roosevelt’s “officers.” Most are dressed as colonial army officers, with Charles J. Bonaparte dressed as Napoleon and John Burroughs as a frontiersman. All but Roosevelt are crying. Caption: Repetition, one year hence, of a famous scene in Fraunce’s Tavern.

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Comments and Context

Cartoonist Louis M. Glackens drew this prophetic cartoon in March of 1908, interesting for what it does not outright say, and significant for who it does and does not show, in the group gathered around President Roosevelt.

Theodore Roosevelt, wearing an athletic uniform with letters “B.S.A.C.” on the shirt, shoots a large basketball looking like and labeled “Taft” toward a basket labeled “Nomination.” Caption: Just a little basket ball practice in the White House gym.

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Comments and Context

In a cartoon unfortunately typical of Frank A Nankivell, feeling more earnest than skillful, President Roosevelt shoots a ball toward the basket, more earnestly than skillfully, in that new sport of the day called basket-ball.

President Roosevelt believes Beach and Noyes are fine men, and will wait to see whom Secretary of War Taft chooses.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1907-07-02

Theodore Roosevelt wants to know if Gifford Pinchot would object if Roosevelt wrote to Henry Wallace about a misunderstanding of the word “upright,” which Roosevelt used in a speech regarding William H. Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1910-12-30

Theodore Roosevelt appears as Naomi and William H. Taft as Ruth from the biblical story of loyalty. Caption: Ruth Taft. — Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy policies shall be my policies.

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Comments and Context

Puck draws from the well of familiar Biblical imagery and iconography, simply drawing parallels between Ruth and Naomi, a picture of tender but strong loyalty.

President Roosevelt insists that he did not ask Secretary of War Taft to put Cabot Ward on the Philippine Commission. Regardless, positions on the committee are filled by extensive searches rather than suggestions. Roosevelt tells Anna Roosevelt Cowles that he does not think highly of any biography about him; however, he feels that Francis E. Leupp has written the best of them.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1908-07-09

Theodore Roosevelt states that he has always supported George Leavens Lilley because Roosevelt believed Lilley faced a “very corrupt gang”. Roosevelt is also amused by what Anna Roosevelt Cowles has told him about the Reids, and he is unsure how William H. Taft will handle the situation. He and Edith have also enjoyed William Sheffield Cowles’s visit.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1908-11-10

Edward Henry Harriman, in the Scottish Highlands, stands with arms and sword raised next to a diamond-shaped rock labeled “Flim-Flam Finance” balancing on a pointed base. Harriman is confronting Theodore Roosevelt and his band of Scotsmen, William H. Taft, Charles J. Bonaparte, Frank B. Kellogg, James Rudolph Garfield, and Milton Dwight Purdy. Caption: Fitzjames Harriman (to Teddy Dhu) — Come one, come all! This rock shall fly from its firm base as soon as I!

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Comments and Context

At one time in the United States, the works of Sir Walter Scott were extremely popular; his books ubiquitous in homes and libraries. Many Scots today are virtually reverential about Scott’s stirring, dramatic, and nationalistic poetry.

Theodore Roosevelt stands in a mountain of mail, mostly postcards from William H. Taft, showing places “Bill” has visited during his worldly travels. Caption: T.R. (in despair) — I might have known that Bill would get the habit.

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Comments and Context

Approximately once a month Puck gave its center-spread to humor — social or topical commentary — and took a vacation from politics. This cartoon by L. M. Glackens employs President Roosevelt and Secretary of War William H. Taft; and from behind, presidential secretary William Loeb, but only in humorous fantasy.

Theodore Roosevelt, wearing a military uniform with the Japanese Imperial seal on the hat and holding a rifle, stands behind the “Park Row Earth Works,” as two rolled-up newspapers labeled “Sun” and “World” with rifles charge the earthworks. The background shows the war flag of the Japanese Imperial Army. Caption: “The war talk is due entirely to newspapers, which seek to increase their sales, and which for political reasons attack the Government.”–Taft at Tokio.

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Comments and Context

A week after spectacular Wall Street panic, Puck commented instead, for the second week in a row, on diplomatic friction between the United States and Japan. The wall Street situation was news, however, a rolling crisis and rather complicated, so perhaps it was safer to address international matters.

President Roosevelt writes to William Woodville Rockhill, ambassador to China, to ask that Rockhill and his wife take care of Alice Roosevelt on her upcoming venture to the Orient. Roosevelt also asks for information on the “smashing overthrow” of the Russian naval fleet, specifically what military arms were used to execute the mission.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1905-05-31

President Roosevelt has been under pressure from financial and political interests, but has already agreed that the cabinet position belongs to William H. Taft. Roosevelt is put off by such attempts to influence his decisions and is disgusted by the role some newspapers, including the Sun and the Journal, have tried to play in the process.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1903-08-24

President Roosevelt thanks Minister Rockhill for relaying information on the Dalai Lama. Roosevelt also states that he will not be giving any appointment recommendations to incoming President William H. Taft.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1908-12-17

Theodore Roosevelt, perspiring profusely, tries to keep a spinning William H. Taft labeled “Taft Boom” aloft with a “Diabolo,” by catching him on a string strung between two sticks and tossing him up again.

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Comments and Context

Humor, hilarity, and ridicule can supplement and reinforce a stark political observation; they can meet, and work well, in a good cartoon. And in this cartoon by Udo J. Keppler the juggling or circus toy derived from the Chinese yo-yo, called a “diabolo,” is the flimsy device by which an exhausted Theodore Roosevelt keeps the corpulent William H. Taft spinning in the air. And he must do so into the middle of 1908.

Theodore Roosevelt examines the campaigning of President William H. Taft and the endorsements Taft has received from prominent newspapers, such as the Chicago Evening Post, the National Republican Party, and voters across the country. Roosevelt questions the President’s credibility, his means of obtaining voters’ support, and the truthfulness of his record.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1912-07

Theodore Roosevelt sets a back-fire with the face of William H. Taft, to break the progress of a fire labeled “3rd Term” with the face of Roosevelt in the background.

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Comments and Context

Setting “back fires” when battling prairie fires, wildfires, or forest fires seems counter-intuitive at first, but robbing oncoming flames of their fuel is a tested, and frenzied, way to control blazes.