The Third Man

Caricature of Robert LaFollette by A. Barreto in Public Affairs, ca. May, 1924

We turn now to the third party candidate in the 1924 presidential race, Senator Robert M. LaFollette, Republican from Wisconsin.

I wish I could tell you more about the cartoonist who created the caricature of LaFollette at the top of today’s post. The Washington Herald identified him as being Peruvian, and credited the caricature to a publication called Public Affairs; I have not found either one on line yet. [Update: see comments.]

"The Prairie Fire" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 8, 1924

With Calvin Coolidge's presidential nomination all wrapped up and tied with a bow, and the fight for the Democratic nomination still raging all the way up to and through the party's national convention, Democrat-leaning cartoonists such as Daniel Fitzpatrick seized on the aspirations of Republican Senator Robert LaFollette as a sign that Republican Party unity wasn't what it appeared to be.

"Jazz" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 12, 1924

No doubt the Wisconsin Republican's open intention of waging a third-party campaign annoyed the mainstream of his party.

"Can't Tell What Bad Boys Will Do" by Harry Murphy for Star Newspapers, ca. June 16, 1924

Just how much of a nuisance his campaign would be was anybody's guess — as well as to whom.

"Unperturbed" by "Bill" Sykes in Philadelphia Public Ledger, ca. June 6, 1924

Despite Progressives' gains in the 1922 congressional elections, conservatives were firmly in charge of the Republican Party; Wall Street interests and southern conservatives were greatly influential on the Democratic side. LaFollette hoped for a Progressive Party in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party as an alternative, which he believed would ultimately replace the Democrats.

"Whip Behind There, Robert" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, June 18, 1924

The 1924 iteration of the Progressive Party was created by the Conference for Progressive Political Action, a collection of socialists, midwestern labor unions, and farmers' coalitions. It had included the Farmer-Labor Party (formerly the Non-partisan League, which we've followed in several earlier posts) but the Farmer-Laborites had split off from the CPPA in 1922.

"What're You Laughing At" by Ed Gale in Los Angeles Times, June 18, 1924

The Farmer-Labor Party held its national convention in St. Paul in June, and was also interested in rejoining the CPPA, or at least endorsing LaFollette as its presidential candidate.

"Go Back" by Clifford Berryman in Washington (DC) Evening Star, June 17, 1924

But LaFollette wasn't interested in the Farmer-Labor Party's endorsement, and their convention nominated a ticket of Illinois miners' union leader Duncan McDonald and Washington state grange activist William Bouck instead. (McDonald and Bouck were back at their day jobs within a month.)

"La Follette Cries for His Mama" by Robert Minor in Daily Worker, Chicago, June 5, 1924

If Republican stalwarts weren't about to let Sen. LaFollette off the hook for his initial support for the Russian Revolution, the Communists at the Daily Worker were not ready to forgive him for his more recent repudiation of Stalinism. "He cries and he scolds, but he doesn't leave his mama," reads the cut line below Robert Minor's cartoon for the Communist daily newspaper out of Chicago.

"I Hope You've Saved Room for This" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. June 30, 1924

When the Progressive Party scheduled its convention in Cleveland, Ohio, for July 4 and 5, they probably assumed that both major party nominees would be known. As it turned out, however, when Polly Ticks in Dorman Smith's cartoon brought out the Progressive Conference course, the diner had yet to clean the plate in front of him.