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The State Department instructs Ambassador Charles Page Bryan to protect American interests in Brazil without taking sides in a Brazilian-Bolivian dispute.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-07-10
Acting General Superintendent Bowen defends U.S.-administered education institutions and practices in the Philippines.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-07-07
Newspaper editorial discussing attitudes in New England towards the Bond-Hay Convention and reciprocity with Canada.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-28
On the occasion of his inauguration, the New York Times re-examines President Roosevelt’s record of the past three years, and asks, can the nation expect an even bolder Roosevelt in the years to come? Roosevelt’s policies and actions of the past three years are subjected to a critical analysis.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-04
In this article, Theodore Roosevelt describes race relations in Brazil, comparing Brazil’s attitude toward race relations to that of the United States.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1914-02-21
Theodore Roosevelt addresses President da Fonseca, thanks the Historical and Geographical Institute of Brazil, under whose auspices he has been invited to speak, and discusses American internationalism. Roosevelt believes that the better the republics in the western hemisphere come to know one another, the less likely there will ever be trouble between them.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1913-10-24
A young boy sits on the ground, leaning against a tree, asleep. Around him are clusters of fireworks waiting to be ignited.
A boy’s dream (as would have been specified in the Old Days) on the Fourth of July. Napping in a little country spot on the Fourth, as per the magazine’s issue date above his head, flowers have turned to pinwheels, Roman candles, and other fireworks.
J. S. Sherman collects $1 donations for the Republican Party at a fund raising event in a theater. Theodore Roosevelt and Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon can be seen in the audience. “Behind the scenes” are J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Huttleston Rogers, and Edward Henry Harriman pouring coins from large money bags into “The Dough Barrel.” Caption: But the real work of financing the campaign will, as usual, be done behind the scenes.
J. S. Sherman was a long-serving member of the House of Representatives from New York — twenty years total with a four-year hiatus in the middle of the stretch — first elected in 1886. Despite his long service, he never held a position of power or significant committee assignment higher than Indian Affairs. Nevertheless, the affable “Sunny Jim” asserted behind-the-scenes influence and he was adept at conciliation and compromise.
Vignettes lightheartedly depict Irish domestic servants being pampered and coddled by their employers in efforts to keep them happy and happily employed, chiefly, by taking their minds off their domestic duties by providing pleasant distractions.
A Puck centerspread cartoon — the home, approximately once a month, of multiple genre gags on a social (not political) topic, occasionally merged two themes. In the example, artist S. D. Ehrhart falls back on two cliches frequently used by cartoonists — interestingly, social trends headed in opposite directions at the time.
A large William H. Taft wears a stars and stripes turban, with a large knife labeled “The Big Bolo” stuck in his belt and a notice attached stating “For Stand Patters.” He is speaking to a group of diminutive figures labeled variously “Congressman” with a “Manila Souvenir Spoon,” “Philippine Industries, Free Trade Promises, [and] Senate Bill.” In the background, on the left is the boarding ramp to a ship, and on the right are two entrances to a railroad station platform labeled “To Washington Direct.” One entrance is labeled “Philippine Free Trade” and the other is labeled “Stand Pat.” Taft is telling them to be sure to choose the correct train, i.e., not to enter through the “Stand Pat” gate. Caption: Our Foremost Filipino — Now, boys, after all my talking, don’t go and take the wrong train.
In 1900, President William McKinley named William H. Taft to be civilian governor of the Philippine Islands. It was position that carried responsibility and diplomatic skills, because the new United States territory was restive and rebellious, more so than any of the new acquisitions won in the Spanish-American War. In the next three years more than 100,000 deaths resulted from the Filipino Insurrection.
A crowd of people celebrate a spinning fireworks display showing the head of Uncle Sam at center.
For Puck‘s celebratory holiday issue, July 4th, 1905, cartoonist Frank Nankivell, born in Australia, was given the task of creating a poster-like cover. The United States was at peace, was prospering economically, and had just re-elected a popular president whose exuberant optimism mirrored the nation’s own. It is interesting to note that, among the silhouetted hats on the crowd in the foreground, the most prominent is an army hat reminiscent of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Rider hat.
Uncle Sam’s boot kicks a Chinese immigrant off a dock as part of an anti-Chinese immigration campaign. Vignettes show how the Chinese can possibly emigrate to the United States, by coming as “a cup-challenger” in yacht races, “as an industrious anarchist,” or “disguised as an humble Irishman,” or “as an English wife-hunter” with “pedigree” in his pocket, or wielding knife and handgun, as a mean-looking “peaceful, law-abiding Sicilian.”
A 1905 Puck cartoon by J. S. Pughe might seem on the surface merely to be a humorous, if stereotype-laden, treatment of immigration issues of the day, particularly the difficulty of Chinese immigration leading to comic subterfuge. It would be that; but there were deeper, longer-lasting, and core consequential aspects to the problem. A modern version might have immigrants wishing to enter the United States to pose as Mexicans, whose ease of border crossings has been legendary; that would be upside-down as a cartoon concept, but relates to the larger issue.
A bloated businessman labeled “Railroad Interests,” smoking a cigar and wearing a gold necklace of railroad passenger cars, sits on the hillside at the Culebra Cut in Panama. He is speaking to Uncle Sam, who is standing on the edge of the Cut, his coat over one arm and holding a pick-axe with the other. Stuffed head-first, in the businessman’s pocket, is John F. Wallace, chief engineer of the canal construction until his resignation in 1905. Caption: Gentleman in the Background — Sam, here’s an engineering problem for you. If it’ll take ten years to cut through Culebra, how many years will it take to cut through me?
It was in June of 1905, weeks before Puck published this centerspread cartoon by Joseph Keppler, Junior, that John F. Wallace, the Chief Engineer of the Panama Canal project, abruptly resigned his position. He was succeeded by John F. Stevens. Both men were railroad designers and engineers in the United States before and after their work on the Canal.
An eagle stands on the “U.S.A.” portion of a globe with its wings extending from “Porto Rico” and “Panama” on the right to the “Philippines” on the left. Caption: “Gee, but this is an awful stretch!”
Democrats and Republicans, capitalists, social reformers, political symbols, and others enjoy a summer outing at a park.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1904-08-17
President Theodore Roosevelt stands on a reviewing stand, holding hat in raised right hand as a large group of capitalists, industrialists, and financiers wearing the tattered clothing of tramps, march past the stand. Some carry placards with such statements as: “Irrigate the Trusts,” “No place to go but the Waldorf,” “We want the earth,” “Free quick lunches,” “Pity the poor banker,” “Dividends or we perish.” At the front of the group, J. P. Morgan carries a wooden bucket labeled “The full water pail.” Caption: “Aggregated wealth largely represented among Parker’s Supporters”–New York Tribune.
Two female drummers play while a young woman bursts from a firecracker. The title “Puck” is formed from firecrackers.
Uncle Sam, as Santa Claus with his bag of toys, hands a bag of money labeled “$10,000,000” to a little boy wearing a hat labeled “Panama” and holding a huge ship, some books, one labeled “Ledger,” and towing a model train. A railing on the right divides the space into an area with a Christmas tree and an area without. Hanging on the railing, looking in, are five boys labeled “Colombia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, [and] San Domingo” who are depressed and possibly angered that Santa Claus/Uncle Sam has nothing for them.
A little boy, wearing a military uniform and paper hat labeled “Colombia,” beats on a huge drum labeled “War” with drumsticks labeled “Bombast” and “Bluster.”
The Russian Bear eyes a house of cards. Each card is labeled a different country, “England, France, Germany, Japan, U.S., Austria, China, Italy, [and] Turkey”, and the king on each card bears some facial characteristics of the ruler of the country, including Uncle Sam. A dove of “Peace” has landed on top of the cards. The bear’s right paw and claws are touching the “Japan” card.