In this 1906 political cartoon, The Proper Way to Kill the White House Turkey by Charles Lewis Bartholomew (1869-1949; editorial cartoonist, Minneapolis, MN, USA),
the artist comments on one of the scandals surrounding President Theodore Roosevelt
(1858-1919; 26th US President, 1901-1909, Washington, DC, USA).
[1]
Two years earlier, the President's children had been falsely accused of cruelly chasing
a Thanksgiving turkey around the White House grounds.
[2]
By humanizing the handling of the bird, the artist makes light of how turkeys are
traditionally treated in the holiday season. Loosely tethered by his neck, wings,
and legs to a lawn chair, this cartoon turkey is attended by the President's personal
physician, Dr. Presley Marion Rixey (1852-1928; Surgeon General of the US Navy, 1902-1910,
Washington, DC, USA). The physician administers chloroform to the bird while a crying
nurse holds a sponge and palpates the turkey's pulse with her other hand. In the background,
a remorseful President Roosevelt dabs his own tears with a handkerchief (Figure).
FigureThe Proper Way to Kill the White House Turkey by Charles Lewis Bartholomew. This editorial cartoon was published in The Minneapolis Journal on November 28, 1906.
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References
- The proper way to kill the White House turkey.The Minneapolis Journal. November 28,1906; ([newspaper editorial cartoon]): 1
- The Life of Theodore Roosevelt.John C Winston Company, Philadelphia, PA1919: 185
- The history of modern anesthesia. Pennsylvania Society of Anesthesiologists.(Available at:) ([Accessed September 8, 2015])
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: October 09, 2015
Accepted:
October 4,
2015
Received in revised form:
October 4,
2015
Received:
October 2,
2015
Footnotes
☆Conflicts of interest: None.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
