April Fools: Foolish Presidential Cartoon Depictions

Library of Congress Photo

April 1st is commonly celebrated as ‘April Fools’ Day’ in the United States, and elsewhere in the world. One common origin story for the holiday involves a victim being sent forth to deliver an “important message” in a sealed envelope. After making an arduous journey to the recipient, the letter inside is revealed to be a joke at the messenger’s expense. Nowadays, April Fools’ Day is relatively tame and rarely makes an individual the butt of a joke. Instead, one of the more common April 1st pranks is for newspapers to publish a false news story. Generally, the piece is so over-the-top outlandish that it fools nobody, but occasionally, the devious tricksters ensnare an unsuspecting reader into believing.

As it relates to newspaper sensationalism and the deliberate exaggeration of facts for comic effect, we thought this April would be a great time to take a look at some of the ways in which presidential candidate James A. Garfield was depicted by popular political cartoons of his day. The first one above shows former President, political rival, and former US Army General Ulysses S. Grant stooping and offering his sword to Garfield. On the sword’s blade, the word “Imperialism.” Behind him, famous Stalwart Republicans including Roscoe Conkling are on their knees with bowed heads. Above the sword, Half-Breed Republicans John Sherman and James Blaine can be seen lowering and destroying a white flag on which is written “Third Term.” The caption mimic’s Grant’s Civil War nickname, “Unconditional Surrender” and in the background of the kneeling Roscoe Conkling can be seen a group of sad-faced men in soldierly uniforms offering their rifles, on each of which is marked a failed project of the old Stalwart Republican faction.

Library of Congress Photo

In this cartoon, we see Uncle Sam, baton in hand, directing the rehearsal of a ballet troupe. Ballerinas include James A. Garfield, Winfield Scott Hancock, a surprisingly agile Chester A. Arthur, Roscoe Conkling, and others. The ‘dance’ they are performing is presumably the ritual of campaigning for election. This is a revealing commentary on the performative and dramatic practices of American democracy. These images remind us that cartoons and jokes in print can sometimes be more informative of the political atmosphere in which they are created. Exaggerations, even wild ones made at the expense of public figures, are instructive to the historian.