Conflicting Emotions

In 1916, the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party again nominated Theodore Roosevelt for President. With the firm belief that the nation would be better served by a single representative of the Progressive and Republican parties, Roosevelt declined the Progressive Party's nomination. He put his support behind Charles Evans Hughes, the eventual nominee of the Republican party. As Roosevelt had urged, the Progressive Party withdrew from the race and urged their members to back Hughes. Hughes went on to lose the election by a narrow margin to incumbent President Woodrow Wilson. In this original political cartoon, Norman Ritchie depicts Theodore Roosevelt, seated in his dressing gown and slippers, in phone negotiations with both the G.O.P. Headquarters and the Bull Moose Headquarters.