United States

Handwritten fragment from the preface of The Winning of the West.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1894-07

The American Ambassador stands at the head of a dinner table around which are seated the heads of state of several European countries and China, offering them baked beans and “Ice Water” for dinner. Also cooling in a bucket of ice are bottles of “Root Beer” and “Ginge[r] Ale.” On a tight budget, beans are all he can afford. Caption: American Ambassador (who has to live on his salary) — Let me help you to some more baked beans, Princess. My wife cooked them herself.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Carl Hassmann’s drawing, at first glance, is of a formal diplomatic dinner, proper and with superficial pleasantries. A closer look reveals that the tablecloth of the American ambassador is patched, the food and drink is lower than common fare, and several people in the dinner party are laughing to themselves or disdaining the social situation.

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.

comments and context

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.

A sickly looking dove is caught in a birdcage fashioned from rifles and swords, with “Powder” kegs at the ends of a perch labeled “Peace Conference,” and topped with the flags of “England, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Japan, Russia, Spain, [and] U.S.” Caption: “Caged.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The second Hague Peace Conference — formally, the International Tribunal on Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land — was generally regarded as a bust before it began a few months subsequent to Puck‘s cover cartoon.

Members of President Roosevelt’s Cabinet have advised him not to serve as arbitrator in the Venezuela crisis, but speculation is already underway that he may have to act in that capacity. If he were to do so, possible associates on whom he might rely include Attorney General Philander C. Knox, Judge George Gray, and Assistant Secretary of State David Jayne Hill. Although arbitration by The Hague Convention has been urged on the country, Venezuela is opposed to such arbitration.

Collection

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Creation Date

1902-12-23

A British soldier tries to dodge bullets during the American Revolutionary War.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-07-03

Uncle Sam is marrying a woman labeled “Canada” with President Taft as the clergyman. When Taft asks anyone who objects to the marriage to speak, all the guests in the church (they all have hogs heads) clamor to object. Caption: Clergyman Taft — Into this common-sense estate of Reciprocity these two persons present come now to be joined. If any man can show just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now sp– / Chorus of Tariff-Protected Monopolies — We object!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-03-08

The Roman god Mercury wears a hat labeled “Pan-American Union” and is draped in cloth the color of the American and South American flags. He points to a large globe showing “South America” and tells a group of mostly old men who are North American manufacturers that South America is ripe for exploitation. Caption: They jeer and scoff at him now as others jeered and scoffed at Columbus when he told them of a land to the west.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-03-29

A resolute Uncle Sam, as a soldier with rifle, stands on a pile of money bags labeled “Financial Interests in South & Central America.” Sleeping on the ground, using the bags as pillows, are men labeled “St. Petersburg, Wall St., Lombard St., Paris Bourse, Berlin, [and] Vienna.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-04-05

A large egg labeled “Taft’s Message” has hatched in the congressional chamber, startling the congressmen. Two large conjoined chicks (a double-yolk), labeled “Reciprocity” and wearing hats labeled “Canada” and “U.S.,” are standing on the broken shell.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-04-12

A young woman sits on a precipice, holding aloft a bouquet, and surrounded by mountainous wilderness. The faces of young women from around the world appear as cloud formations.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-06-14

Based on painting by Henri-Paul Motte that depicts Rome being saved from an attack of the Goths by squawking geese, in this cartoon “Lobbyists” are ascending the city wall around “Ottawa” and handing bags of money down to be delivered to two men, wearing top hats labeled “Protected Trust.” The building tower is labeled “Reciprocity” and the squawking geese are kept in an enclosure labeled “Independent Press.” Caption: As the geese saved Rome, publicity will save reciprocity.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-09-20

Theodore Roosevelt discusses the political corruption of the Chicago Convention with C. Willis Bennett. He also asks that Bennett contact Matthew Hale.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-06-27

Theodore Roosevelt thanks John Milliken Parker for sending him newspaper clippings. Roosevelt invites Parker to meet in order to discuss the campaign and devise how to gain favor in the Southern states.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-07-15

Henry E. Cooper denies that Hawaii considered neutrality leading up to the Spanish-American War and subsequently provided assistance to the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-02-21

Prince Heinrich of Prussia is returning from his successful mission to the United States.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-03-11

Secretary of War Root, Senator Lodge, and Senator Turner have been appointed as American representatives to the tribunal that will determine the boundary between Alaska and Canada. Roosevelt instructs the representatives to impartially judge the questions that come before them and then explains the American interpretation of the boundary. This copy of the letter was sent to Turner.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-25

The Forum describes connections between upcoming Congressional and Presidential elections, the western United States, and U.S. interests in East Asia.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07

The Russian newspaper Novoe Vremya claims that war is being brought to Russia by the antagonism of the new world. The United States is seeking world hegemony and is undertaking an anti-Russian campaign.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-02-03

William Loeb will bring to the Canadian government’s attention the need to appoint members for a proposed international commission monitoring the waters between the U.S. and Canada.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-14