Can He Get Across?

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Creator:

Charles Henry Sykes

Publication:

Cartoons 

Publication Date:

September 1912

Description:

The 1912 Presidential election was a three-way contest:

• William Howard Taft, the incumbent president, represented the Republican Party, symbolized by the Elephant.
• Woodrow Wilson, the reform governor of New Jersey and former president of Princeton University, was the Democratic candidate, symbolized by the Donkey.
• Theodore Roosevelt, the former Republican president (1901-1909), ran on the Progressive Party ticket, symbolized by the Bull Moose.

As a third party, the Progressives under Roosevelt's leadership had to find supporters within both existing parties. Roosevelt also had to establish a political stance on all of the important issues, but each decision he made alienated some segment of the voting population.

Source:

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University