Article Title: Postcard Politics: The 1908 Presidential .

Nebraska History posts materials online for your personal use. Please remember that the contents ofNebraska History are copyrighted by the Nebraska State Historical Society (except for materials credited toother institutions). The NSHS retains its copyrights even to materials it posts on the web.For permission to re-use materials or for photo ordering information, please sion.htmNebraska State Historical Society members receive four issues of Nebraska History and four issues ofNebraska History News annually. For membership information, .htmArticle Title: Postcard Politics: The 1908 Presidential CampaignFull Citation: John E Carter, “Postcard Politics: The 1908 Presidential Campaign,” Nebraska History 77 (1996):159-166URL of article: story/full-text/NH1996Bryan PCards.pdfDate: 4/19/2013Article Summary: Large numbers of political postcards circulated during the 1908 Bryan/Taft campaign. Somefeatured authentic or altered photographs. Cartoons promoting or making fun of a candidate appeared on othercards.Cataloging Information:Names: William Jennings Bryan, William Howard Taft, Theodore RooseveltNebraska Place Names: LincolnKeywords: William Jennings Bryan, William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, The Commoner, ChautauquaPhotographs / Images: (Fig 1) Bryan identified with working class, Taft identified with industrialists; (Figs 2-3)Bryan at O’Neill, May 30, 1908; (Figs 4-5) nonpartisan cards with likenesses of Taft and Bryan; (Figs 6-7) cardssuperimposing wig and clothing of George Washington on Bryan; (Figs 8-9) cards based on the fact that Bryan wasfrom Lincoln; (Fig 10) embossed likeness of Bryan; (Fig 11) Bryan identified with agricultural bounty; (Fig 12)Bryan identified with Democratic Party; (Fig 13) the two candidates’ stances on the direct election of US Senators;(Figs 14-15) Bryan campaign themes; (Fig 16) the “Bryanization” of the Democratic Party; (Figs 17-18) Bryan’srepeated runs for the presidency; (Figs19-20) the GOP victorious; (Fig 21)s Taft identified with TheodoreRoosevelt

:::--";;;;;;;;;;" 0 Po§tcard PoUt;c§ THE.1908FR.E5ID'E.N-I-IAL CAMrAJGN .-., /o, By John E. CarterThe 1908 presidential election conte;tbetween William Jennings Bryan andWilliam Howard Taft had lilliE.' 10 rnll evoters' pasSions Por snm :, r\ rhapsmany, volers, the candid,lIes were dis tinguished as much by personality as byissue or policy Bul whal Ihe campaignITI::!y have lacked in zest, it madE' up fo!with humor, particularly in the form ojpolitical and personat caricature - anaspect Ihal look Ihe form of a flood ofpol it lea I post C3 rds, grea Ie r In vol umeand vanely Ihan ill any othe-r presiden·I ial election. IThe Republicans nominated WilliamHoward Tal! primarily because of hisendorsemenL by the incumbenl presI dent, Theodore Roo:.evdl, who was slillrioinq the crest 01 il. wave of popularityarislllg from his embrace of t rust·bustingI)nd C(Jnservalion and his bold foreignrolicv initiatives. Most Republican 'oll'\,'(Oiliion dolegates ha d pledged thf'ifhearts to Teddy and they would ladlyhave iven him another nOmlll'i.tloll hadhe SOlI! ht it: instead, they gave him theflgl1 t tu name his successorTaft, wllose ample gir1h required aspecially bllill car ar.d bathtub, drewsupport 1101 just frolT. traditional Repub·licans but also from some who Identi fied Willi the vaguely defined and slillpvolving progressive movemellt.Though the OhIOan had never before sought dective office, he had served Inprominenl appointlv(' po ilions, nolablyAmerican civil governor of the Philip pines from 1901 to 190/1. and secrelaryof war from! 9f)4. to 1908.Tile Democratic candidate, WilliamJennings Bl)'an, had rhe advantagebeing better known than Taft. throughboth hiS nr:wspaper, 77lc Communer,dod hiS SI)C('ch-making ",-TOSS the na·lion. He- had twice be/ore sought thepresid(:!ncy, in 1896 and 1900, and in1908 he WilS at the heighl of his popular·ity as a Chautauqua speaker. Every veal',Bryall left his home in LlOcoln, Ne·braska, to travel (he leclure circuit.holding (orth in tents and open air pavil ions in the summer and in lyceum hallsand al Democrallc PilTty dinners in (hewinler. William Gibbs McAdoo once as serted Ihat 8ryan had more personalfriends than anyone else In the countryas a resull 0/ his many years as a travel·ing orator, and McAdoo may well hcl\'ebeen right.0:Bryan wac; more closely identifiedthan Taft with elements in lhe emergmgprogrlSslve movement, having basedhiS earlier presidenl ial c.ampaigns uponopposition to Wall Slreet nnd "thelnlsts," a designation that embraced1ll0S1 large corporations. Years of eatin. in railroad dining .:aYS and at party ban quets hall leI! him paunchy, althoughhe was no match for Taft in the conteslof waistlines.Voters thus had to chose betweentwo portly candidates, hoth nicknamedBill and both claiming the mantle ofprogressivism. Given Roosevelt's highlevel of popularity, Taft did his best toidentdy with his sponsor and to makethe elecllon a relerendum on the previ·ous seven yeors of strenuous adiviry.Through the slogan "Shaillhe PeopleTHE CANDIDATES AT EXERCISE-1.,THE COMMONERTHE PLUTOCRAT.'WHICH WilL YOU HAVE PRESIDENT OF OUR REPUBLIC?-'ohn E Carter is ClIrDlOr 01 pllOlogrQJJils a//I,eNebrasila SIGIC HlslOnw/ SOCIetyFig 1 t\'SHS Coliections·7956-6 104159

Nebraska History - Fall/Winter 1996Rule?" Bryan lJied to identify with thepeople and lie Taft and the Republicans10 big business and its corrupting influ ence in politics, although Bryan hadbacked off from his proposal two yearsearlier to nationalize the railroads. AsIhe two Bills wooed the voters, theircampaigns slruck a contemporary noteby employillg the relatively new andwidely popular penny postcard. Whileprivate mailing cafds - printed adver tising cards - had been recognized bythe United States Post Office in 1898, thepostcard as we know it was nol enfran chised until 1902.2 Its success was imme diate, and by 1905 poslcards were com mon in American society.The period between 1905 and 1915 isconsidered the golden age of the post card in America. Their one-penny pricemade them an attractive medium forcommunication, and the myriad of sub jects they embraced made them collect able. Moreover, the photographic posl card allowed for production of cardswith local or special interest subjectmatter. In fact. it was common fOf indi viduals 10 have their family snapshotsprinted on postcard stock. The pictureon the card, therefore, could be as per sonal as the message on the back.Postcards have a curious public/pri vate character. They are private in thatthey are mail sent from one person toanother, a personal communication.But they are public because without anenvelope, the sender expects that Ihecards will be read by others. This dualnature makes them an excellent vehidefor political discourse.Because these cards were intendedfor the political market they were, forthe most part. mass produced. And theirmessage, though brief, was a highly dis tilled one and easily recognizable. al most on a visceral level. The issues dealtwith in the cards were those to which alarge number of people responded. Thatis the public side.But many of these cards were pur chased to send from one person to an other, and for that reason take on yet an olher political nuance. 3 The senderFig. 2. NSHS-PC0802Fig . 3. NSHS-PC0802knows the intended recipient. and canpredict the response: If the recipientagrees with the senders political pointof view, the card becomes a point of soli darity and camaraderie. If the recipientholds a divergent point of view, the card,particutarly those with a humorous bent,becomes a needle. In either case, thedelight of the sender is predictable.Thus the exchange of cards becomes160an exchange of ideas and reveals the is sues that the electorate, not the politi cians or pundits, feels are important.There is a peculiarly democratizing ef lectthat these cards have. They are. inIheir own righl. little soap boxes fromwhich ordinary citizens speak theirminds. The sender surely anticipatesthat the postal carrier will at least lookat the picture. if not read the message

Postcard PoliticsEach WillWOULD beTHEBlIl.But whichBill will'-a,'or N·.JIhs.nl,WILLIJ.M lot, TAII'T,Prel.Clon ,WILLIAM J, BRYAN,BADGER FURNITURE GO .,1,, i r)ap o li 5,t.:or), r1 · 1\1? tI t·t·t.,t1.1"'l 1 ' "Ind i ana., 11 ,.1, VIt,Fig, tl, NSHS Museum Collecliorls-7956-6 101A lllhl!i pro phe sTh l uq u it e a re I!!Willi. "1,"W UI,; o T0'w ; J[beWill ie S ,Whkh Wil: ic will It be I. .JFig. 5, NSHS Museum CollectiOrlS-7956-6087penned on the back. Once delivered,the sender also expects Ihe recipientto share the card and its message withothers. This sharing is not unlike theway visual iokes circulate within mod em offices via photocopy, and outsideof them via the fax. It is not surprising,then. that such a large number and richvariety of cards were produced for the1908 campaign.'Nineleenth-centulY political cam·paigns had two major characteristics:they focused heavily on party organiza tions rather lhan on individual candi dates, and they were oriented more tomobilizing preexisting loyalties than tomaking converts. Political campaignswere exciting events, characterized bytorchlight parades, barbecues, and ral lies, all designed to reinforce existing161loyalties and to activate organizationalcommitments. Parties were highly orga nized, with a corps of workers in everyprecinct and township devoted to iden tifying the party's adherents and gettingthem \0 the polls on election day. In thepolitics of organization and mobiliza tion, party leaders provided the failhfulwith a wide variety of everyday objectsto demonstrate their loyalties. Bandan nas, walking sticks, hats, cups, andplates all carried party symbols and slo gans, giving volers opportunities to pro claim their party ties to their friends andneighbors. Such devices were nol in tended to persuade or convert, but in stead to reward party loyalists and an nounce fealty. Campaigns based onmass organization and mobilizationachieved amazingly high rates of voterturnout-sometimes as high as ninety five percent of the eligible vOlers.At the lum of the century, changes incampaign practices were already under way. Reformers were systematically re ducing the role of party organizations bysuch means as the secret (Australian)ballot, the direct primary, and the meritsystem in civit selVice, The concurrentdevelopment of modem advertising pro vided an alternate approach to cam paigning. Instead of mobilizing voters,political leaders turned increasingly toadvertising candidates. As advertising re placed mobilizing, the politics of per sonality began 10 replace the politics ofparty loyalties. Voters heeded the mes sage and came to speak with pride ofvoting "for the man, nol the party," an at titude that their grandfathers wouldhave considered anathema. As mass or ganization atrophied and party loyaltiesweakened, voter mobilization cam paigns were no longer possible. Withoutmassive mobilization campaigns, votertumout rates steadily declined, to aslitlle as half the eligible volers by J 920.The postcard politics of 1908 repre sent one brief stage of this process 01transition, when campaign organizersseized upon a newly popular device andused it to its fullest potential as a politi cal advertising medium. No other presi