And the Winner Was...

So, are you looking forward to having the 2016 election finally over with on Tuesday? Travel back in time with Spinback Saturday, then, to the thrilling conclusion of the 1916 presidential election.

I'll start with a pre-election cartoon by Luther Bradley highlighting Wilson's Benghazi; at this point in 1916, Bradley was soon to shuffle off his mortal coil, so this may be my last opportunity to showcase his work.

"The Silent Vote" by Luther Bradley for Chicago Daily News, November, 1916

On Tuesday, November 7, Americans cast their ballots in the last presidential election in which women in some states were denied the vote. (I don't think that's a deliberate topic of Bradley's cartoon, but it's worth mentioning anyway.) The nation awoke on the Day After Election Day 1916 to headlines like this:

Editorial cartoonists, in some cases putting aside their political differences, greeted Charles Evans Hughes as the new president of the United States.

"The New Pilot" by Harry Murphy for Chicago Examiner, November 8, 1916

Some cartoonists were more enthusiastic about the Republican victory than others. At the Philadelphia Inquirer, Frederick Morgan drew at least three editorial cartoons crowing about Wilson's defeat for Wednesday's newspaper. Here are two of them, and yes, that is the actual cartoon caption printed in the Inquirer for posterity.

"The Political Ass Barrel" by Fred Morgan for Philadelphia Inquirer, November 8, 1916

"The End of a Perfect Day" by Fred Morgan for Philadelphia Inquirer, November 8, 1916

If you know anything about American history, you might be wondering why you don't remember having been taught anything in school about the Hughes administration. Well, don't blame a faulty education system. As the sun came up on Wednesday morning, Charles Evans Hughes was still several electoral votes shy of the 266 needed to win. California, Minnesota, West Virginia, Indiana and New Hampshire, with a combined 52 electoral votes, were too close to call; less than a percentage point separated Wilson's and Hughes's vote tallies in each of those states.

"Another Doubtful State—Of Mind" by John McCutcheon for Chicago Tribune, November 9, 1916

With no clear winner, what, then, was a newspaper cartoonist to do?

Fred Morgan must have had cramps in his drawing hand or run out of ink, because his pen fell silent for the next few days. The New York Evening Post reran Monday's cartoon by Oscar Cesare on Thursday, but with a new and improved caption (originally "The Anxious Seat").

"Watchful Waiting" by Oscar Cesare for New York Evening Post, November 9, 1916

By the end of the day on Thursday, California finally appeared likely to cast its 13 electoral votes for Wilson — enough to put the incumbent president over the top. Wilson's margin of victory in California was only 3,800 votes out of a million.

There is a story that when a reporter tried to telephone Hughes on Wednesday morning to get his reaction to the election returns, the person who answered the phone told the reporter that "the president is asleep."

"Newspaper Slogan" by Nelson Harding for Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 8, 1916

The reporter snapped back, "When he wakes up, tell him he isn't the president."

"Some Mix-Up" by Sidney Greene for New York Evening Telegram, November 10, 1916

The outcome in Minnesota was still in doubt when the Duluth Evening Herald ran C.F. Naughton's congratulatory cartoon on its front page; its 12 electoral votes would go in vain to Hughes.

"Good Work, Woodrow. Keep It Up" by C.F. Naughton for Duluth Evening Herald, November 10, 1916

Wilson's election having been settled by the end of the week, Mr. Hughes nevertheless did not accept the results until November 22.

"Judicial Temperament" by H.S. Smith for The Masses, January, 1917.

Campaign 1916

As we draw tantalizingly closer to the end of the 2016 campaign, Stumpback Saturday takes a look over its shoulder at editorial cartoons of the issues of the final weeks of the presidential election of 1916.

"Troubles of a Good Natured Man" by Luther Bradley in Chicago Daily News, 1916

Luther Bradley's Woodrow Wilson seems nonplussed by pups bearing his own foreign policy slogans of Watchful Waiting and Too Proud to Fight, here joined by his decision to stay out of arbitrating the railroad workers strike.

The Wilson campaign slogan that lived on in popular memory was "He kept us out of war," which inspired Republican John Darling to draw the following cartoon. Uncle Sam smarts under a barrage of bricks and planks representing national humiliation, the Lusitania, Mexican insolence, British naval blockade and opening of U.S. mails, 1914 hard times, Democratic extravagance, and "After the War?"

"He Kept Us Out of War" by John "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, 1916

I like a couple of John McCutcheon cartoons from late October. In the first, he flips "He kept us out of war" on its head; and indeed, as the Zimmerman telegram would show, the German foreign office would have been perfectly happy to keep us out of their war, too.

"He's Curious to Know" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, October 20, 1916

In the second, McCutcheon grudgingly acknowledges Wilson's claim to prosperity and peace (signed "World War" and "Watchful Waiting" in reference to the president's initials), but begs to attribute problems of national prestige, Mexico, pork, patriotism and paper preparedness to him as well.

"The Ones He Exhibits" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, October 24, 1916

At the Duluth Evening Herald, where they were confidently predicting a landslide victory for Wilson, C.F. Naughton, repeating a frequent image in Democratic cartoons, sees Hughes haunted by Wilson's question "What would you have done?" regarding American response to the war in Europe.

"The Republican Tam O'Shanter" by C.F. Naughton for Duluth Evening Herald, October 23, 1916

The Republicans at the New York Evening Sun weren't fazed by that question at all.

"He Never Had to Ask That" by Robert Carter in New York Evening Sun, 1916

Up the street at the New York World, Rollin Kirby depicts, for the umpteenth time, Hughes as a patsy for the German Kaiser. Hughes had given up a seat on the Supreme Court to accept the Republican nomination, so Kirby draws his replacement robe as a patchwork quilt of former presidents Taft and Roosevelt, the Republican old guard, Wall Street, jingoism, pacifism, women's suffrage, and hyphenated Americans (especially German-Americans).

"In Place of the Ermine" by Rollin Kirby in New York World, 1916

In fact, Hughes proclaimed himself neutral regarding whether to support Europe's Allied or Central Powers. For that matter, Wilson actively pursued the German vote; German-speaking surrogates promoted the incumbent president to German-American audiences. In the end, German-Americans did not vote as a bloc, and were not a significant factor in the election's outcome.

"The Missing Link" by Wm. C. Morris for Harpers Weekly Independent, November 6, 1916

Sid Greene's summary of the campaign probably resonates as strongly today as it did a century ago.

"You Poor Fish" by Sidney J. Greene for New York Telegram, October 28, 1916

The label on the fish reads, "Catostomus commersonmii — in plain English, this means sucker."

100 Years Ago: Unavoidably Came Peace

Last week's review of 100-year-old editorial cartoons may have left less historically literate readers with the impression that the United States and Mexico went to war in 1916. In order to reassure anyone worried for great-great-grandfather's safety, Stressback Saturday turns to the next page of the Punitive Expeditionary Force story.

"What Just the Sight of the Dentists' Tools Will Do":
Jay "Ding" Darling for the Des Moines Register and Leader

Troops C and K of the 10th Cavalry (Black "Buffalo Soldiers" led by white officers) suffered heavy losses against Venustiano Carranza's army at the Battle of Carrizal on June 21. The Woodrow Wilson administration responded with a massive mobilization of National Guard forces heading toward the border.

The Mexican Army suffered greater casualties at Carrizal than the Americans had. On July 5, Carranza sent a conciliatory note to Washington, promising to turn his army's attention away from the U.S. Army and toward the "bandits" in his own country. In return, he expected U.S. forces not to become a permanent occupation force on his side of the border.

"I Don't Believe I'm Quite as Hungry as I Thought I Was":
Alfred West Brewerton for the Atlanta Journal

As a gesture of good will, Carranza released a number of American soldiers his forces had taken prisoner, further defusing the crisis.

"Hiding the Main Issue": Jonathan H. Cassel for the New York Evening World

It seems that the reports of imminent war were not the only ones that turned out to be slightly exaggerated. Remember the headline splashed across the front page in April heralding the death of Pancho Villa?

"The Dual Personality": Hoffman for Baltimore Star

By July, reports that Mr. Villa was feeling much better could no longer be ignored.

"When He Was Last Seen": G. C. Bronstrup for San Francisco Chronicle

Fullblown war with Mexico, however, was avoided. Forces of the U.S. Punitive Expeditionary Force remained in Colonia Dublán to hold the Carranza government to its promises to capture Pancho Villa; although the Mexican Army failed in that regard, U.S. military activity more or less ceased through the remainder of the year.

"Something Else for Him to Look At": Luther Bradley for Chicago Daily News

While administration cheerleader Luther Bradley's cartoon turned out to be overly optimistic, R. M. Brinkerhoff proves here that you just can't please everybody:

"A False Alarm" by R.M. Brinkerhoff for the New York Evening Mail

Meanwhile, Carranza's newfound common cause with Wilson produced a side effect that would become achingly familiar to the United States in the 20th Century: aid and comfort to an erstwhile enemy.

"What Next?": Jay "Ding" Darling for the Des Moines Register and Leader

100 Years Ago: War with Mexico

100 years ago this week, the Wilson administration's election slogan that "He Kept Us Out of War" was in trouble. You may recall an Australian cartoon that ran here a couple Salsaback Saturdays ago anticipating imminent war between the U.S. and Mexico.

You can always click to embiggen these images, but only so far; so here's a close-up of the above Naughton cartoon:

C.F. Naughton for Duluth Herald, June 24, 1916

The first thing to establish when going to war is that your adversary has no business being in charge of itself. Racism (witness any vocal Trump supporter) is an early tactic:

July, 1916 Cartoons Magazine cover after a cartoon by Nelson Harding in The Brooklyn Eagle

Virtually all the U.S. cartoonists I saw published predicted an easy thrashing for that upstart south of the border. The first Mexican-American War was more or less of a cakewalk, and was a distant memory (as distant as World War II today, but without the movies). The Spanish-American War was fresher in memory, and how much more difficult could the Mexicans be than Spain had been?

May for Cleveland Leader

Luther Bradley for Chicago Daily News

C.F. Naughton for Duluth Herald, June 26, 1916. (Unsigned, again!)

There was at least one editorial cartoonist, however, who seems to have suggested that the "Punitive Expedition" hadn't been such a piece of cake so far.

Charles H. "Bill" Sykes for Philadelphia Evening Ledger

100 Years Ago: The Democratic Convention

Scrollback Saturday continues yesterday's review of cartoons about the 1916 political conventions. Let's start with one by Sidney Smith ("Old Doc Yak," "The Gumps") on the news pages of the Chicago Tribune.

Sidney Smith for Chicago Tribune, June 11, 1916

100 years ago today, the Republicans had wrapped up their convention in Chicago, and the Democrats were gathering for theirs at the Coliseum in St. Louis.

Robert Carter in New York Evening Sun, June, 1916

Incumbent President Woodrow Wilson and Veep Thomas Marshall were unopposed for the Democratic nomination, so there wasn't any of the drama of the previous week.

C.F. Naughton for Duluth Evening Herald, June 14, 1916

Other than the occasional speaker going too far in promising four more years of peace and prosperity, there was nothing for Republican cartoonists to remark upon except everything they already disliked about the President's policies.

Robert Carter for New York Evening Sun, June, 1916

If the cartoonist (or his publisher) liked Wilson, you picked up your newspaper to find this sort of hagiolatry on the front page:

Luther Bradley in Chicago Daily News, June, 1916

Or this:

C.F. Naughton for Duluth Evening Herald, June 14, 1916

Should we read anything into Naughton's cartoon that he left plenty of room to sign his cartoon, but didn't?

In those days, several newspapers would have cartoons, some topical, featured on various pages besides the front and editorial pages. Sidney Smith's cartoon at the top of this post is one example; here's another by Frank King ("Bobby Make-Believe," "Gasoline Alley"):

Frank King for Chicago Tribune, June 12, 1916

Taking a less partisan approach in the Sunday funnies, A.E. Hayward's Colonel Corn, having gotten nowhere with the Republicans, tried to impress delegates to the Democratic convention.

"Colonel Corn" by A.E. Hayward in the New York Herald, June 11, 1916.