Taggart, Thomas, 1856-1929

On the left side, Alton B. Parker stands in the front while David B. Hill, Patrick Henry McCarren, Thomas Taggart, and August Belmont are in the back. Caption: July: (veiled) Hist! Keep the push in the background. The people may get wise! On the right side, Hill, McCarren, Taggart, and Belmont stand in the front while Parker stands in the back. Caption: October: (unveiled): The people are wise. We might as well admit we are it.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-28

David B. Hill, Arthur P. Gorman, and Alton B. Parker pull a donkey in several different directions in an attempt to get it off Thomas Taggart, who has been flattened on the ground.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-06

Voters watch as August Belmont points to an illustration of Alton B. Parker who wears a “trusts” chain around his chest on the side of a circus tent. Verbiage reads, “The Democratic giant guarantees to break the chain by chest expansion.” In Parker’s hands are two weights, “sound money” and “clean politics.” Similarly, Henry Gassaway Davis holds a barrel that reads, “millions for the purification of politics. Not.” Verbiage around him reads, “The Hercules of West Virginia.” David B. Hill sits by a “ballot box” and holds a paper that reads, “After this performance, I shall retire from the show business. D. B. Hill.” Several men hide in the tent, including Parker, who holds a “political graft” weight; Thomas Taggart, who holds “gambling trust magnate” cards; Davis, who holds a “West Va. Coal Trust price” rock; Grover Cleveland; and Arthur P. Gorman.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-15

President Roosevelt holds a football and charges toward Alton B. Parker as David B. Hill and Thomas Taggart look on. Crowds cheer in the background. Caption: This is no case of tackling the dummy. Quarterback Parker now has a chance to show the stuff he is made of. —Minneapolis Journal.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10

Chair of the Republican National Committee George B. Cortelyou and Chair of the Democratic National Committee Thomas Taggart roll barrels of money toward their respective party’s headquarters. Behind them is a doorway to “Wall St.” They tell each other, “There’s nothing in it.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-15

Thomas Taggart points to a poster of John Griffin Carlisle and Grover Cleveland with the words, “Greatest Show on Earth.” Caption: Taggart (the new barker of the Democratic combination, pointing to the Carlyle-Cleveland poster): “Come one, come all! We still stand pat on the panic of ’93! We haven’t changed a particle, and our old friends are still with us! Don’t miss the exhibition!!”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-22

A tall Chair of the Republican National Committee George B. Cortelyou stands on “his record” as a small Thomas Taggart grabs “mud” to throw at Cortelyou.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-25

Alton B. Parker—if elected president—sits with his would-be cabinet: “Thomas Taggart, Postmaster General,” “John Sharpe Williams, Attorney General,” “‘Bathhouse John,’ Secretary of Interior,” “William H. Devery, Secretary of Agriculture,” “Patrick H. M’Carren, Secretary of War,” “David B. Hill, Secretary of State,” “August Belmont, Secretary of Treasury,” and “Benjamin R. Tillman, Secretary of Navy.” Caption: The possible cabinet of white-winged souls who would get a job on Democratic success.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-26

Three masts on a boat—”presidential ticket,” “New York state ticket,” and “congressional ticket”—were thrown off due to the “Roosevelt hurricane.” Charles A. Peabody and Patrick Henry McCarren hold onto the bottom of the New York state ticket mast by the “Democratic party” hold. Thomas Taggart, Alton B. Parker, and David B. Hill are in another hold.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-09

David B. Hill holds a note from William Jennings Bryan with the message, “when you want me let me know,” on it as he sits beside August Belmont and Thomas Taggart.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-13

A number of Republican and Democratic politicians play a game of baseball while large crowds look on. President Roosevelt is the pitcher while Charles W. Fairbanks is the catcher. The “voter” stands at the “White House” home base while Alton B. Parker tries to run to home base. Thomas Taggart tells Parker, “Get ready to slide, Judge.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-11

President Roosevelt is ready to make a counter-attack against the Democratic Party. Roosevelt is especially frustrated by Alton B. Parker’s plea about the common law being sufficient. According to Roosevelt, Parker will not use the federal powers of the U.S. to take a firm stand against the trusts. Roosevelt suggests to George B. Cortelyou that they should have people at party headquarters who can “receive all people and talk to them pleasantly.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-01

A man labeled “Average voter” stands between two fields, trying to decide which one he should choose. On the left is the “Democratic Lot” showing “Bryan’s Financial Fallacies, Schemes, Dreams, [and] Instability”; “Opposition to a Sound Banking System”; “Inexperience”; “Obstructive Policies”; “Tariff Reform”; “Jefferson’s Ideals”; “Low Leaders [Thomas] Taggart, Fingy [William J. Connors], Hinky Dink [Michael Kenna]”; Anti-Everything”; “Sectionalism”; and “Croak and Kick Statesmanship.” On the right is the “Republican Lot” showing “Past Prosperity” and “Constructive Policies” among “Arrogant Rule [Joseph Cannon], Extravagance, Tariff Graft, Parasite Plutocracy, Special Privilege, Swollen Fortunes, Pension Graft, Foraker Type of Statesman, [and as a snake] Wall Street.” Caption: The Democratic lot – Better soil / The Republican lot – a more alluring field.

comments and context

Comments and Context

“A Question of Courage” was a remarkable cartoon to run in a prominent and usually partisan political journal. Puck, traditional Democrat-leaning, had been ambiguous during the 1908 presidential campaign, declining to be firmer in its tilt toward Republican candidate William H. Taft or utterly disapproving of Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

A galley labeled “Government Of, By, and For the People” sails past rocks labeled “Bossism” where other ships have wrecked, drawn by “Party Solidarity” sung by Republican sirens “Connors, Aldrich, Cox, Penrose, Woodruff, [and] Lodge” and “Partisanship” sung by Democratic sirens “Mack, Conners, Murphy, [and] Taggart” sitting on rocks above the crashing seas. Caption: The old stuff doesn’t go any more.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-06-01

In a speech titled “Elementary Honor, Theodore Roosevelt responds to President William H. Taft.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1912

Secretary of Agriculture Wilson reports to President Roosevelt on his campaign activities in Indiana. Most people are calling the state for Roosevelt, but Mayor Taggart of Indianapolis might pay for the Negro vote in major cities. Wilson has heard of Judge Parker’s allegations against Roosevelt and Chairman Cortelyou and he is speaking out against them in Indiana.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-10-02