United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.)

President Roosevelt uses his patented “Roosevelt invigorator” with “necessary measures,” “anti-injunction,” “anti-trust,” and “currency legislation” to blow into the mouth of a “Do Nothing 60th Congress” elephant costume that appears to be on Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon who says, “A storm must be brewing.” Roosevelt’s big stick lies on the ground with the United States Capitol building in the background.

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Comments and Context

Joseph Harry Cunningham in the Washington Herald almost anticipated a Rube Goldberg invention, in those eponymous cartoon panels with complicated mechanisms that required patient study and ultimately accomplished little. In this political cartoon President Roosevelt works the bellows to inflate an elephant costume with Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon inside.

President Roosevelt rolls up a “message to the Senate and House of Representatives” “guaranteed to make a noise when opened.” A teddy bear stares as Roosevelt rolls up two sticks of dynamite and an “alarm clock” as Maurice Latta heads toward the United States Capitol building.

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Comments and Context

As the weeks counted down to the Republican National Convention, the practical perception of President Roosevelt as a lame duck accelerated. However, he would be president for a full ten months after this cartoon’s publication, and no one should have expected a man like Roosevelt to slow down in activities, or controversies.

President Roosevelt fires a “rapid-firing message gun” from the White House at Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon as a “third term” animal looks over Roosevelt’s shoulder. Cannon bends over as he is hit with “forest reserves,” “postal bank law,” “anti-injunction,” “executive control,” “power over securities,” and “control of wealth.” The United States Capitol building is in the distance and a “big maul” gavel and “former messages” are on the ground.

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Comments and Context

Joseph Harry Cunningham’s drawing in the Washington Herald is an unfortunate example of how an important and even salient point might be buried at the hands of an inferior cartoonist. The context is simple — and historically significant — about the management of President Roosevelt reform program; a major policy address, recently delivered to Congress as a Special Message; and the growing intransigence of the Republican Old Guard regarding Roosevelt’s initiatives.

President Roosevelt holds a “Congressional Record speech” in his left hand and a string tied to a “special message” cannon. The “Senate” and “House,” which are depicted as two men in the distance, appear worried.

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Comments and Context

It was a full five days before President Roosevelt would transmit a Special Message to Congress, but cartoonist Clifford Kennedy Berryman spoke for the Washington, D.C.’s political establishment in picturing the nervous apprehension about its contents.

President Roosevelt holds a paintbrush dripping with paint and a paint can that reads, “presidency paint.” In the background is a fancy “3rd term bandwagon” and the U.S. Capitol building. Caption: Roosevelt — I’ll sort of keep that band wagon in repair in case it may be needed later on.

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Comments and Context

Ryan Walker joined the parade of artists speculating on President Roosevelt’s third-term ambition in the looming 1908 contest. A journeyman cartoonist whose foray into radical political cartoons had him draw for socialist magazines published in Girard, Kansas, that had national circulations, and the fledgling International Syndicate of Baltimore, the likely distributor of this cartoon that appeared in a minor paper in Des Moines.

President Roosevelt smiles as Joseph Benson Foraker grabs onto his coat, which rips off and he falls into a deep hole. The U.S. Capitol building and Washington monument are in the background.

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Comments and Context

The idea of this cartoon is to represent the end of the controversy between President Roosevelt and Senator Joseph Benson Foraker over the matter of a regiment of black troops being cashiered (not honorably discharged) after a melee near their barracks in Brownsville, Texas, left one man dead and another wounded. The accusations, defenses, and insults were the stuff of national interest for months.

A “railroad magnate” sits in a tree with a top hat labeled “railroad” stuck to a branch. He says, “For heavens sake Theodore, save me!” as a bear below him labeled “state law” growls, “two cents – mile.” President Roosevelt, armed with a gun labeled “federal law,” marches away from Washington and toward the tree. There is a sign in the foreground that says, “No trespassing on these grounds.”

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Comments and Context

This cover cartoon in The Meddler the short-lived regional aspirant to the field occupied nationally by Puck, Judge, and Life, addressed the recent and well-publicized meeting of J. P. Morgan, representing railroad magnates, with President Roosevelt at the White House.

President Roosevelt hangs from a hot air balloon “The 25th Regiment Affair” and holds onto a big stick labeled, “Prestige.” The U.S. Capitol building and Washington Monument can be seen on the ground. Caption: I’d let go of this Blamed thing, but I might break my “Big Stick.”

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Comments and Context

Cartoonist G. T. Hayward, in an awkward amalgam of icons and symbols, portrays the famed “Big Stick” of President Roosevelt as a cartoon prop signifying prestige rather than the routine attributes of power and persuasion.

President Roosevelt holds the “Congressional Record” in his hands with the headline, “Senate–Speech–Brownsville Incident” with an illustration of the U.S. Capitol building on the right side. A teddy bear looks over Roosevelt’s shoulder.

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Comments and Context

The infamous Brownsville Incident — the murder of a bartender and wounding of a policemen near United States Army barracks housing a battalion of black soldiers — occurred in August of 1906, yet in January of 1907, the date of this cartoon, it remained a controversial topic. President Roosevelt, after none of the one hundred sixty-seven soldiers came forward with any form of witness or rumor account, summarily cashiered all the soldiers.

President Roosevelt hands out rolls of paper labeled “Message” to a line of people heading toward the U.S. Capitol building. William Loeb, with perspiration on his forehead, types on a typewriter in the background.

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Comments and Context

The Washington Post‘s Christmas cartoon, turning Christ’s admonition to a political context, portrays President Roosevelt sending presents to Capitol Hill: message after message. The line of messenger boys is a tight stream; and the president’s personal secretary, William Loeb, sweats at the typewriter.

Andrew Carnegie, dressed in a Scottish kilt with a hat labeled “Andru” with the “u” crossed out and replaced with “ew,” looks at a man fallen on the ground labeled “Simplified Spelling Order” kicked down by the U.S. Capitol building. A teddy bear runs off into the distance.

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Comments and Context

Among the playthings of Andrew Carnegie, having sold his steel businesses and reputedly the richest man in the world, was a faddist obsession with changing — “simplifying” — the spelling of words in the English language. Apparent anomalies in English are to due its origins in diverse language groups, yet rules that seemed challenging, flummoxed people like Carnegie, Mark Twain, and Theodore Roosevelt.

Andrew Carnegie comforts President Roosevelt who is looking toward the U. S. Capitol building and a man labeled, “Reformed Spelling.” Caption: Mr. Carnegie–“He seems to have been among some bad company, Theodore.”

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Comments and Context

At the time of this drawing’s publication, the United States Congress formally resisted President Roosevelt’s executive orders that government bodies, including the Government Printing Office, adopt Simplified Spelling in all documents and publications.

President Roosevelt holds a “Roosevelt rail-road rate ideas” bag and a “rail-road rate bill U.S. Senate” gold brick. Uncle Sam puts his hand on Roosevelt’s shoulder and points to the brick. The United States Capitol building is in the background.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-06-02

President Roosevelt and Commissioner of Corporations at the Department of Commerce and Labor James Rudolph Garfield use an “immunity” crosscut saw to cut off the “prosecution of the trusts” branch from a tree outside of the United States Capitol building.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-03-25

President Roosevelt, West Virginia Senator Stephen B. Elkins, Ohio Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, Pennsylvania Senator Philander C. Knox, Iowa Representative William Peters Hepburn, and Rhode Island Senator Nelson W. Aldrich all stir a “R.R. rates bill” soup in a pot shaped like the United States Capitol building.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-19

President Roosevelt holds the “big stick” and “peace” papers as he looks towards the United States Capitol building. A number of papers fall out of his briefcase: “cotton scandal airing,” “magazine article written,” “investigation of Castro,” “beef trust jostle,” “a submarine trip,” “cabinet changes,” “speeches made,” and “sermon preached.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-01

A “trusts” man with a “R.R. Rebates interests” paper in his back pocket rides Uncle Sam. President Roosevelt throws a “legislation” lasso toward the man.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-25

Uncle Sam points President Roosevelt, who holds his rifle, to the “grafter’s paradise” woods. There are a number of wild animals in there, including a “government land grabber” beaver, a “tobacco trust” hog, a “Tammany” tiger, and a “Panama Canal” cat. Caption: “Mr. President, there’s the big game. Now, fire away!”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09

A caricatured, dark-skinned President Roosevelt takes several bites out of a “strenuous politics” watermelon outside of the United States Capitol building. There are a variety of phrases on the watermelon: “peace terms for Russia & Japan,” “no war taxes in times of peace,” “square deals,” “honesty in politics,” “uniting the North & South,” “ousting the political grafters,” and “anti-trust crusade.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-02

President Roosevelt rides a Republican elephant that digs into the “U.S. Treasury” while Uncle Sam watches in horror. They are outside the United States Capitol building.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-05