The Enduring Image of Theodore Roosevelt

By: Michael Kelly

NOTE: Contact author for illustrations. [michael.kelly@mcc.edu]

The Enduring Image of Theodore Roosevelt
By Michael Kelly

In the midst of a presidential election year when it often seems as if most of the country is obsessed with the Presidency, it is hard to realize how forgettable American presidents can be. How many high school seniors could identify Chester Arthur? How many folks at the mall would recognize Zachary Taylor? Yet there are a handful of American Presidents who endure in the public consciousness beyond their own era, reaching the status of cultural icons.

George Washington is universally known, as is Abraham Lincoln, both of whom served during times of national crisis. Yet Theodore Roosevelt is nearly as recognizable while his Presidency, although filled with activity, was not marked by national crisis. So powerful is his image that the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery describes him as an “icon of the Twentieth Century.” The public recognition of TR comes from the force of his personality and a set of symbols intimately associated with him. It is rare for a politician to become associated with a symbol. It happens on occasion -- the most recent being Bill Clinton’s saxophone, which often appeared on campaign items – but TR did not have just one symbol, he had a half dozen.

Snapping teeth below a bristling moustache, “pince-nez” eyeglasses and a floppy “Rough Rider” hat created an image that was easily recognized even when portrayed in the most abstract manner. Aided by scores of photographers, cartoonists, and portrait artists, his features became symbols of national recognition; mail addressed only with drawings of teeth and spectacles was delivered to the White House.

Roosevelt is the most recent President to be carved into the side of Mount Rushmore yet his inclusion with Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln did not draw serious objection. Even in this digital age, his presence is felt throughout American culture. The U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, projects American military power around the globe. Richard Nixon quoted his predecessor when choosing “In The Arena,” as the title of his autobiography. Pundits still urge occupants of the White House to use their “bully pulpit.” In advertising, Maxwell House coffee quotes Teddy Roosevelt when it boasts that it is “good to the last drop” and the fashion industry still uses “Alice Blue,” a color favored by his oldest daughter.

Then there is the teddy bear. These stuffed animals have become so common that “teddy” isn’t even capitalized any more.

A Roosevelt hunting trip to Mississippi inspired teddy bears. After a wearying trek through the woods on a fruitless hunt for bears, the President’s chagrined hosts finally managed to rustle up a tired old bear for him to shoot. He chose not to take the shot, which was seen as an example of sportsmanship. The story gained wide currency when political cartoonist Clifford Berryman published a cartoon (“Drawing the line in Mississippi”) showing TR declining to shoot the bear. The cartoon was so popular that an enterprising toy manufacturer from Brooklyn named Morris Michtom began to make “Teddy Bears” for children. Popular children’s books took up the image, with Seymour Eaton’s series about the Roosevelt Bears, Teddy Brown and Teddy Grey, being the most successful. Almost a century later, teddy bears remain a mainstay among children’s toys.

Of course, given the visual nature of American politics, those bears appeared on campaign items. Stickpins in the shape of bears (sometimes carrying rifles) appeared on lapels while clothing buttons were made picturing bears.

But bears weren’t the only image to make an appearance in the popular culture of campaign items. While teddy bears may still be common today, the first image of Theodore Roosevelt to catch the public imagination was that of the Rough Rider. Despite a busy political career before war broke out (including Republican leader in the New York State Assembly, police commissioner and mayoral candidate in New York City, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the first McKinley administration), it was the Spanish-American war that made him a national figure.

Throughout his life, the image of TR in his Rough Rider uniform remained a potent symbol, used by both friends and foes. To his admirers, the Rough Rider symbolized courage and skill. To his detractors, it represented reckless adventurism and imperialism.

One campaign button features a uniformed TR on the left side of a classic jugate design but on the right, rather than the photo of another candidate, are the words, “Remember San Juan Hill.” The August 4, 1898 cover of Life magazine pictured TR on a bucking bronco, a blazing pistol in each hand, over the caption “Teddy the Terror.” As late as the 1904 campaign, when he had already served as Governor of New York, Vice President and President, a campaign button was issued showing the Rough Rider with the American flag atop San Juan Hill.

The charge up San Juan Hill entered national myth. The portrait of TR with saber drawn, astride his charging steed, was found across the country on everything from prints and paperweights to textiles and trays. While his days in North Dakota left much of the cowboy in his public image, the broad-brimmed hat associated with Roosevelt was almost always shown as the hat of the Rough Rider of San Juan Hill.

The Rough Rider hat was easily recognized. It was a high-peaked, broad-brimmed hat (similar to those used by many state troopers), often with one side pinned up. In his 1898 campaign for Governor of New York, the vast majority of buttons portrayed Roosevelt wearing the hat, usually framed by an American flag.

The New York state election in 1898 hadn’t been looking favorable for the GOP until the new war hero landed his troops on Long Island in preparation for their return to civilian life. Out to his tent in the field trooped politicians, hoping to gain an advantage from his new celebrity and TR was soon in a new battle as the Republican nominee for governor. Two years later, Governor Roosevelt became Vice President Roosevelt. Seven months after that, he was President of the United States.

Throughout his career, the hat remained a powerful symbol of TR. When he walked into the 1900 Republican National Convention, ostensibly discouraging calls for his nomination as McKinley’s running mate, an observer noted that he was carrying a hat not unlike his Rough Rider hat. “That’s an acceptance hat,” the observer commented.

The hat was evident in the 1900 campaign, even as Roosevelt was supposed to be playing a supporting role to McKinley. One stickpin features “Mack and Teddy” on a Rough Rider hat. Throughout his career, badges appeared that simply showed his hat. No words were needed. In 1912, when he kicked off his attempt to recapture the White House with the words, “My hat is in the ring,” numerous campaign buttons attest that everyone knew which hat he meant.

But the cumulative visual impact of Theodore Roosevelt went beyond the hat. Probably the most unusual objects to become a political symbol were his eyeglasses. They weren’t even the regular sort of glasses that later symbolized Barry Goldwater. They were little “pince nez” glasses, tied to a ribbon that hung around his neck. The pince-nez spectacles, popular in the 19th century, are supported without earpieces, by pinching the bridge of the nose (the term is from the French for "pinch nose"). Such glasses didn’t seem to fit with the man of military action. But they may have been the best symbol of the seeming contradictions that made this president so memorable.

The eyeglasses symbolized his other side. For Roosevelt was not just a man of action, he was also a fine scholar, a naturalist, an historian and an author. Roosevelt was not just a war hero, he was a war hero from Harvard, born of one of the nation’s oldest families, gifted with a first rate intellect. Those little “pince-nez: glasses encapsulated all that. In 1904, when the presidential nomination went to Roosevelt, the pince-nez were used at lapel pins featuring TR and running mate Charles Fairbanks.

Just below his eyeglasses was a thick moustache above a broad smile filled with teeth. All an artist needed to portray Theodore Roosevelt was eyeglasses, moustache and teeth. An advertising button boosting the new-fangled electricity features TR’s teeth with electric light bulbs in place of the glasses. The button’s message was “Dee-light-ed by Electricity.”

One lapel pin shows teeth, moustache and glasses topped with a hat with no other features. Across the country, little rough riders began to show up at costume parties. Novelty false teeth were marketed under the brand “Teddy’s Teeth.”

It was during his Presidency that he introduced one of his last symbols, the Big Stick. He liked to quote an African proverb – “speak softly and carry a big stick” – to support a strong American military, especially a strong Navy. While it can’t be said that TR was known for speaking softly, the big stick rapidly came to stand for an assertive America.

Political cartoonists enhanced the power of TR’s symbols as they benefited from their instant recognition by readers and they were fond of picturing the colorful personality. When TR was entering public life, Thomas Nast was still a potent political force. Nast noted TR while his career was still new, including one famous engraving portraying New York State Assemblyman Theodore Roosevelt working for the public welfare with New York Governor Grover Cleveland. Political cartoonists from Thomas Nast and Joseph Keppler to C.G. Bush and Rollin Kirby found TR a compelling subject. As he left the White House in 1909, cartoonists and political writers mourned what they thought would be his departure from the public stage.

But he was not to depart the public stage when he left for his African safari. It was on his return and his subsequent battle with his handpicked successor, President William Taft, which he created the last great symbol associated with Theodore Roosevelt: the Bullmoose.

“I feel fit as a bullmoose!” he boasted at the start of his 1912 campaign as the candidate of the Progressive Party. He had been denied the Republican nomination, despite being the clear popular choice, and took his case to the people with a new party. The Bullmoose appeared on buttons, badges, ribbons and signs. It symbolized the toughness and vigor of a man so vital that he could bolt the Republican Party and beat it hands down. Unfortunately, while Roosevelt easily outran Republican Taft, he was unable to outrun the Democrat Wilson, who won the White House with 42% of the vote.

These varied symbols – the Rough Rider’s hat, the teeth and moustache, the “pince-nez” eyeglasses, the big stick and the bullmoose – reflect the very diversity of Theodore Roosevelt. Generations have come and gone since his era but he remains one of the best-loved and most recognizable presidents.

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Since 1992, Michael Kelly has been editor of The Keynoter, the quarterly journal of the American Political Items Conservators (APIC). On the staff of Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan, Kelly earned his BA from the University of Notre Dame and his MA from Wayne State University. More than an observer of American politics, he has served as a Presidential Elector in the Electoral College and as a delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Article Source: http://collectibles-articles.com

I do not have a website at this time but you may email me at michael.kelly@mcc.edu

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