English: “The Same Old Cyclone”

	Cartoonist:  Edward Windsor Kemble
	Source:  Harper's Weekly
	Date:   November 7, 1908, pp. 18-19

On November 3, 1908, Republican William Howard Taft defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the presidential election, 321-162 in the Electoral College and 52%-43.5% in the popular vote. This Harper’s Weekly cartoon shows the election results as a cyclone, which has hit Bryan for a third time. The artist’s selection of that particular weather phenomenon was based on the fact that the Great Commoner was from Nebraska, where tornadoes are prevalent. Amidst the rubble of the destroyed Democratic platform are (left-right): Bryan, vice-presidential nominee John Kern, New York State party chairman William J. “Fingy” Conner, and the Democratic Donkey. In the left background, the Tammany Tiger leans, smiling and unscathed, against the tree on which have landed New York World publisher Joseph Pulitzer (left) and Louisville Journal-Courier editor Henry Watterson. In the right background, the “Republican Vote” appears as the ferocious twister that caused the destruction.