Description: Booklet of illustrated rhymes drawn by cartoonist Frederick B. Opper and published by William Randolph Hearst, 1902. These satirical cartoons and rhymes criticized corporate trusts, or monopolies, which were often used by large companies to consolidate power and crush competition. Because of their association with anti-competitive practices, trusts were a politicized issue beginning in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Several presidents are associated with "trust-busting," including William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Frederick Opper was a well-known American newspaper cartoonist for more than sixty years. He was born on January 2, 1857, in Madison, Ohio, the son of Austrian immigrants. At the age of fourteen, Opper began drawing cartoons for the Madison Gazette, and in 1877, he accepted a position as staff artist with a magazine called Wild Oats. He spent several years at Wild Oats while also doing freelance work for several other magazines and newspapers. He then spent eighteen years working for Puck Magazine before becoming a cartoonist on the staff of the New York Evening Journal. He was one of the United States' leading cartoonists in the late 1800s and the early 1900s, and created memorable cartoon characters including "Alphonse and Gaston," "Maud, the Kicking Mule," and "Happy Hooligan," his best-known cartoon series. Opper continued to draw until 1932, when vision problems forced him to retire. He died on August 28, 1937. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: PABox683_10_001
Subjects: Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937; Hearst, William Randolph, 1863-1951; Political cartoons; Editorial cartoons; Industrialists--Ohio; Ohio Economy--Economy--Business;
Places: Madison (Ohio); Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: Three drawings reflect the concerns of those working in the Republic Steel Corporation's Warren Plant during the 1937 "Little Steel" Strike. Robert Walker drew the cartoons on mailing envelopes; they document unease over receiving mail, violence, and promises made by the Committee for Industrial Organization. The cartoons measure 4.6" by 8" (11.8 by 20.32 cm) and are part of a scrapbook maintained by the Republic Steel Corporation documenting events at its Warren Plant during the strike. The scrapbook is labeled Miscellaneous Communications, Posters and Pictures Relating to the C.I.O. Strike of the Warren Plant of the Republic Steel Corporation, Summer 1937, Vol. III. In June 1936 the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers and the Committee for Industrial Organization (C.I.O.) agreed to a joint effort to organize the steel industry. This led to the formation of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (S.W.O.C.). Soon after the first representatives from the S.W.O.C. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1619_2587042_001
Subjects: Arts and Entertainment; Business and Labor; Strikes; Steel industry; Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.); Labor unions; Cartoons (Commentary)
Places: Niles (Ohio); Warren (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)
 

Description: This cartoon shows the Democratic presidential candidate in 1880, General Winfield Scott Hancock, inspecting a selection of exhibits demonstrating the association of the Democrats with the Southern cause in the recent Civil War. Looking at a donkey, the traditional symbol of the Democratic party, made up of two hindquarters sewn together, Hancock exclaims: "Great Scott! Am I to be head of that?" The donkey symbolizes the difficulty the Democrats had in re-defining themselves as a national party after the Civil War. Other shameful "curiosities" in the "shop" include an Andersonville skeleton, the Ku Klux Klan, a slave-tracking bloodhound, a whipping post, John Wilkes Booth's pistol and more. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: CA11_P143
Subjects: United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Reconstruction Era; Presidential campaigns; Democratic Party; Confederate States of America; Political cartoons;
 

Description: Dated August 11, 1880, this political cartoon titled "The Republican Presidential Candidate Now On View" was published in "Puck" magazine, a humor magazine published from 1871-1918 that was famous for its colorful cartoons. This drawing shows Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War under President Grant and editor and co-owner of democratic magazine "The Sun," gesturing to a 'The Sun Microscope' with a glass plate of Republican presidential candidate James A. Garfield's record under scrutiny by an impish looking creature. To the left are glass plates for U.S. Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes, both from Ohio. Dana holds a magnified view of what the creature sees through the microscope, three malevolent microbes surrounded by damning words such as bribery, fraud, and perjury. Behind the stage is a crowd of men looking aghast and the contents of Garfield's record. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: CA4_OHS4200
Subjects: Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881; Political cartoons; Political culture--Ohio--History; Presidential candidates; Presidential elections--1880-1890;
 

Description: Political cartoon from "Puck Magazine" featuring James A. Garfield as a bride marrying Uncle Sam. The caption reads, "Forbidding the Banns. The Bride (Garfield):- `But it was such a little one!'" A man labelled "Democratic N.C." (National Convention) is rushing to the altar with an infant labelled "Credit Mobilier." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS_0566
Subjects: Ohio Government; Presidents and Politics; Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881; Political primaries; Presidential elections--United States--1880; Crédit Mobilier scandal; Political cartoons
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio);
 

Description: Dated June 30, 1912, this Billy Ireland cartoon page from the Columbus Dispatch advertises and praises the Republican Glee Club of Columbus, Ohio. The large caricature featured is that of Glee Club Director Karl Hoenig. The scene in the lower right corner highlights prominent individuals of the time who would be amazed by the Club's performance, such as Simon Guggenheim, Princess Alice, and Richard Harding Davis. The Republican Glee Club formed in Columbus, Ohio, when a group of men who enjoyed singing formed a group to campaign for presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant in the 1872 presidential election against Horace Greeley. The group of singers originally called themselves the Grant and Wilson Glee Club, always changing their name to support the candidate the group was endorsing. By 1885, the Glee Club supported state and local races too, and in 1895 permanently changed the club's name to the Republican Glee Club. The Republican Glee Club Collection includes sheet music and songbooks, organizational records, historical information, event programs, and photographs. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS1441AV_B13_F12_1
Subjects: Republican Glee Club; Republican Party; Political clubs; Choirs (Music); Ireland, Billy, 1880-1935; Newspapers; Cartoons
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio);
 

Description: Dated 1890, this is an advertisement for Chamberlain's Cough Remedy for sale at J.W. Dysle & Co., a druggist in Marietta, Ohio. The cartoon shows a sickly man leaving a drug store with Chamberlain's Cough Remedy under his arm, and a man in a bowler hat approaches him. The following conversation between the two men is listed below the cartoon: "Got a bottle of Chamberlain's Cough Remedy have you?" "Yes, I've tried everything else and still have this miserable cold." "Well, you'll get rid of it now. I had an awful cold and was threatened with pneumonia only last week myself, and a bottle of it fixed me up all right." The text below the cartoon reads "Chamberlain's Medicines are for sale by J.W. Dysle & Co., Druggist, 128 Front St., Marietta, Ohio." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: VFM4583
Subjects: Advertisements; Cartoons; Medicine
Places: Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: Cartoonist Billy Ireland drew this self-caricature, which was from "Accountants Reports and Exhibits," a publication of the American Association of Public Accountants for a meeting held in St. Paul, Minnesota, in October 1907. Ireland portrays himself as an impish figure wearing a plaid suit and a bowler hat, smoking a cigar, and having a pencil tucked behind his left ear. He's carrying a large bottle of ink in his right hand, a briefcase in the other hand, and a large cartoon tucked under his left arm. The briefcase bears a sign that reads: "'Billie Ireland' Official Cartoonist of 'The Ohio Society' 'Meet Me in St. Paul.'" A sign labeled "To St. Paul" is posted next to the railroad tracks down which Ireland is walking. William Addison "Billy" Ireland was born in 1880 in Chillicothe, Ohio. A self-taught artist, Ireland was hired after high school graduation by the "Columbus Dispatch" and spent his entire career with that newspaper until his death on May 29, 1935. Ireland drew editorial cartoons, but he is best known for "The Passing Show," a full-page cartoon strip published in the Sunday edition of the "Dispatch." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05768
Subjects: Cultural Ohio--Art and Artists; Cartoons (Commentary)--1900-1910; Cartoonists; Ireland, Billy, 1880-1935
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Published in a 1921 issue of the New York Tribune, this cartoon shows an angelic Abraham Lincoln shining upon newly elected U.S. President Warren G. Harding, with Uncle Sam whispering in his ear "Don't forget, Warren, the kind of men he picked for his cabinet." The artist's signature is largely illegible, but appears to read C. N. Dingo. This cartoon is part of the Warren G. Harding Papers (MSS 345). This collection includes correspondence, business records, and other materials documenting Harding’s business career as owner and editor-in-chief of The Daily Marion Star, as well as the various stages of his political career. A significant portion of the collection, and what’s available on Ohio Memory, highlights his 1920 presidential campaign, spanning just before publicly announcing his candidacy to handily defeating Ohio Governor James M. Cox in the election. Correspondents include both Ohio and national businessmen, political figures, and ordinary citizens writing with questions, support, congratulatory notes, and campaign advice. Some of the most interesting insights into the tumultuous political climate in the U.S., the extreme factionalism within the Republican Party in Ohio, and Harding’s campaign strategies are described in letters between Harding and his campaign manager, Harry M. Daugherty. Some of the topics addressed include women’s suffrage, Prohibition, the League of Nations, African American representation and issues, and lingering peace negotiations following World War I. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS345_B252F4715_04
Subjects: Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923; Political cartoons; Uncle Sam (Symbolic character); Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865; Presidents
Places: New York (New York)
 

Description: This cartoon shows Warren G. Harding, Republican candidate for president in 1920, wooing a woman representing the Southern state of Tennessee while his Democratic opponent, James M. Cox, looks on in dismay. Since the end of the Civil War, the South had been solidly behind the Democratic party. In the South, the Republicans were disliked as the party of Lincoln, the party that freed the slaves. In the 1920 election, which Harding won in a landslide, Cox carried all of the Southern states with the exception of Tennessee, which went for Harding. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: CA3_F02_01
Subjects: Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865‐1923; Presidential campaigns; Presidential elections; Political cartoons;
 

Description: Published in 1922, this cartoon uses President Warren G. Harding’s well-known affinity for golf to speak to the frustration felt by the public and legislators eager to return to their home districts for upcoming elections. Many felt that the Harding administration was purposely delaying action on a number of issues including the bonus bill for army veterans, the coal strike, tariffs on foreign imports, etc. Ohio politician Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) served as state senator, lieutenant governor, and governor. In 1914 Harding was elected to the U. S. Senate. He launched his famous "front porch" 1920 presidential campaign from the porch of his Marion, Ohio, home. He won the presidency with sixty percent of the popular vote, promising a "return to normalcy" following the wave of reforms begun during Theodore Roosevelt's administration. As president, Harding’s administration was tainted by corruption, and the infamous "Teapot Dome" scandal (in which Harding's secretary of the interior leased a government petroleum reserve to a private oil company) nearly destroyed his presidency. Harding died in office in August 1923. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: CA3_F02_02
Subjects: Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865‐1923; Political cartoons; Presidents--United States; Political culture--Ohio--History
 

Description: A political cartoon commenting on the senate race between John Gilligan and William Saxbe, from the Toledo Blade ca. 1968. In 1968, Saxbe defeated Gilligan as the U.S. Senator from Ohio, and later became the U.S. Attorney General after the Watergate Scandal. John Gilligan started his political career in 1953 when he campaigned and won a seat in the Cincinnati City Council. Later, Gilligan ran for the United States House of Representatives and served for one term. However, he was not re-elected and suffered two more political defeats in running for the United States Senate. Despite these failed campaigns, Gilligan won the office of Governor of Ohio in 1971. He served as governor until 1975. His term as governor is remembered for several successes, the beginning of the state lottery, the graduated state income tax, the voting age lowered to eighteen, and an improved transportation infrastructure. After his term, Gilligan focused his political efforts towards international development and also taught at the collegiate level. Influenced by her father's political career and ambitions, Kathleen Gilligan served as governor of Kansas from 2003 until 2009. Under President Barack Obama, she was appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS388AV_B05_011
Subjects: Gilligan, John Joyce, 1921-; Saxbe, William Bart, 1916-2010; Political cartoons; Political campaigns; United States. Congress. Senate
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio)