Tigers

Henry P. Curtis describes a recent publication on European natural history that he believes Theodore Roosevelt might be interested in. He explains how many towns were named after the animals that once resided there, such as Wolverhampton (wolves).

Curtis also shares with Roosevelt that his father was a Whig, while Curtis is a Republican. He expresses admiration for Senator John Sherman, discusses his political adversaries, and wishes that Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, and Daniel Webster could have been presidents.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

President Roosevelt, an elephant, and a tiger all hold up their glasses for a toast at the “Iriquois Club, Chicago, Illinois.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-05

Democrats and Republicans, capitalists, social reformers, political symbols, and others enjoy a summer outing at a park.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-08-17

New York City Mayor George B. McClellan and Police Commissioner William McAdoo are pictured washing the Tammany Tiger labeled “Corruption” and “Graft.” In the background, Tammany Hall boss Charles F. Murphy is posting a notice for the “Democratic Convention” on July 6 in Saint Louis, Missouri.

comments and context

Comments and Context

In 1904, New York City had a new Democratic mayor, George B. McClellan, son of the Civil War general and 1864 Democratic presidential candidate against Abraham Lincoln; and a new “boss” of Tammany Hall, the city’s corrupt Democrat machine.

New York Mayor Seth Low directs the bombardment of a Tammany Hall bunker flying a flag labeled “Tammany Graft.” Several men, among them former President Grover Cleveland, and Charles V. Fornes, pass shells labeled “Clean record, Capable administration, [and] Just return for taxes” for an “Anti-Tammany” howitzer. They are behind a sand-bag bunker labeled “Honest Government” and are flying the flag of “Municipal Reform.” Caption: “That ammunition fits our gun only.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

“Regulars and Irregulars” — cartoonist Keppler illustrated the “fusion” aspect of Mayor Seth Low’s New York City administration.In 1901 Low had been elected as a Reform Republican and Fusion candidate, on the Citizen’s Union ticket.

A hunter in the woods, carrying a rifle labeled “Gov. B. Odell,” stands next to a tree with a sign that states “Presidential Timber.” He is looking at a tiger labeled “Tammany.” Caption: Gov. Odell. — What a fine White House rug his skin would make!

comments and context

Comments and Context

The date of this cartoon gives extra significance to an otherwise mundane depiction of a New York governor having presidential ambitions. Around this time, New York had a surfeit of officials with publicly-discussed possibilities, if not credentials, to be president of the United States. Democrats had President Cleveland himself, a two-term president and a rumored candidate for 1904. Former Governor David Bennett Hill was a perennial aspirant. On the Republican side, Levi P. Morton had served as vice president under Benjamin Harrison, and serious consideration was afforded former Governor Frank S. Black, Lieutenant Governor Timothy Woodruff, and Governor Benjamin B. Odell. These discussions and putative career-paths were upset by the person and public acclaim of New Yorker Theodore Roosevelt… and, while he was Vice President, the assassination of President William McKinley. Also interesting is the fact that this cartoon was published only days before McKinley was shot.

Richard Croker, dressed in formal wear and wearing a sash labeled “Tammany,” proclaims that he/Tammany supports William Jennings Bryan for president while, behind his back, he slips a vote for William McKinley into the pot labeled “Nov. Election.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This cartoon attacks Tammany Hall Boss Richard Croker for alleged hypocrisy. He endorsed Democrat William Jennings Bryan for President in 1900 but secretly favored Republican William McKinley’s reelection. Croker, if he had any economic views, was for “sound money” and the McKinley prosperity. Tammany candidates outpaced Bryan’s vote tally in New York City in 1896 and increased its margins in 1900, carrying the city despite the Republicans carrying the state. Yet Croker, through the 1900 campaign, softened his routine praise of Bryan, and suspended making predictions at all. Despite the profiles of Tammany Hall members, and his own scruffy appearance (his gray-striped beard invited cartoonists’ depictions as the Tammany Tiger itself), Croker was a prosperous figure who bred racehorses. He was perhaps comfortable with President McKinley, yet always towing the Democrat line.

Theodore Roosevelt valued the editorial from Horace G. Knowles, and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt was pleased with the tiger skin.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-19

Theodore Roosevelt enjoyed the account of L. H. Mosier’s experience with a tiger. He found the account believable and sees nothing supernatural or miraculous about the event.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1916-02-03

Theodore Roosevelt writes to Reverend William Way that there are no tigers in any part of Africa, but the leopard is sometimes called the “tiger,” similar to how the jaguar in South America is sometimes called a “tiger.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1914-12-17

President Roosevelt is most interested in what Frederick Courteney Selous wrote about the cheetahs. Roosevelt hopes that Selous will take a hunting trip to India and advance the knowledge of big game.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-22

President Roosevelt apprises William Austin Wadsworth of his plans to attend the dinner and stay for Smith’s lecture. He finds the tiger business interesting.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-28

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt tells William Sturgis Bigelow that “the advent of the Tammany Tiger caused great excitement at the office, and an equal amount at home.” He comments on the tiger’s smile, and says that if the Republican party continues with its different factions, the tiger’s smile will continue to grow. While both factions deserve some blame, Roosevelt believes that led by Thomas Collier Platt deserves the greater amount.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-11-16

A Tammany tiger and a Democratic donkey stand shoulder-to-shoulder, but look away from one another. On the ground are broken weapons and a skull.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-01

President Roosevelt has his big stick at his feet and holds out his hands toward a snake, a lion, a tiger, a giraffe, a rhino, and a monkey. The “G.O.P.” elephant says, “He hypnotized me.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The Washington Herald’s Joseph Harry Cunningham paid subtle compliments to President Roosevelt in this cartoon that was published precisely a week before the Republican National Convention would convene in Chicago. Presidents did not attend their parties’ conventions in those times, nor did candidates unless they were nominated in last-minute stampedes or compromises.

The Tammany Tiger sits at a table, holding a knife and fork, and crying over the tiny turkey labeled “Patronage” on a platter labeled “20,000 Majority for Tammany.” Next to the platter is a mug labeled “No Sunday Beer.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-11-27

“Dr. Schurz” holding a large carving knife and sharpening tool, “Dr. Grace,” and “Dr. Parkhurst” holding a saw examine a sick tiger labeled “Tammany.” A medicine case in the foreground contains a drill, pincers, and a bottle of “Giant Powder – Reform Brand.” Caption: Cut him up into small pieces; – don’t let any of his nine lives get away!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-11-06

A tableau painting, with Whitelaw Reid subduing the Tammany Tiger with a broken knife labeled “Straight Rep. Ticket,” is being displayed on a stage. Thomas Collier Platt, standing on the left, is admiring the painting. Caption: Platt’s “living picture” – an awful fake.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-06-27

David B. Hill labeled “Hill-ism,” Richard Croker as the Tammany Tiger labeled “Croker-ism,” and Roswell P. Flower, wearing a tall stove-pipe hat, labeled “Flower-ism,” stand on “Condemned Row” in the “Prison of Public Condemnation.” They are watching a group of men, on the left, construct a guillotine labeled “Reform Movement.” Puck is standing on the left with “Parkhurst, Grace, Lexow, Godkin, Ottendorfer, [and] Goff,” who is posting a notice on the wall of the prison that states, “Notice! On Election Day, Nov. 6th 1894. Execution of Hill-ism, Croker-ism, and Flower-ism. By Order of the People.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-06-13

The Tammany Tiger, wearing tattered clothing and a patch over the left eye, sits on the steps outside the entry to “Tammany Hall.” A sign on his lap states, “Please Help a Poor Tiger Until This Reform Wave Subsides,” and he holds a string attached to a small dog with the face of Charles A. Dana who has a small cup attached to his collar. A notice on the side of the building states, “Notice. Tammany Treasury Empty!!! Funds Badly Needed!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1895-09-11