Blanketing the Elephant
- Title:
- Blanketing the Elephant
- Alternate Title:
- Blanketing the Elephant
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Campaign Novelty Sales Co.
- Date:
- 1908
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2556.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2556_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1900 - 1919
- Subject:
- Not So Persuasive
Pictorial
Politics & Government
Unusual Graphics/Text - Measurement:
- 5 x 8.5 on card 8.5 x 14 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- In the Fall of 1907, William Jennings Bryan made it clear that he intended to seek the Democratic nomination for the third time in the 1908 Presidential election. Bryan had twice before led his party to defeat, and there was widespread concern among Democrats that his loss in 1908 might be devastating. See ID #2279.01-.02, "The Map of Bryanism."
Republicans rejoiced. A cartoon map from the magazine Judge in December 1907 shows the U.S. as a "Republican Elephant," with the great majority of the states in grey (labeled "The Republican U.S. . . . sign of prosperity and Republicanism") and the southeastern "Democratic States" in black. The caption reads, "One or two more applications and we can get the good old animal perfectly clean!" ID #2282, "That Diminishing Blot on the Elephant."
This get-out-the-vote postcard map from the 1908 elections, "Blanketing the Elephant!", adopts the earlier concept while inverting the elephant. "It may be a cold winter - keep Missouri under the blanket by helping elect TAFT and HADLEY." (Herbert S. Hadley was the Republican candidate for Governor of Missouri in the 1908 election.) Under the map are instructions: "Invert the map and see how the G.O.P. blanket is covering the United States." When rotated 180 degrees, the map shows results of the 1904 presidential election with the northern (Republican) states at the bottom in black and the southern/southeastern (Democratic) states at the top of the elephant's back in grey. (Compare ID #2556.01 to ID #2556.02.) As a practical matter, the author would have been better served by preserving the original design; by inverting the map, it is the Democratic states, rather than the Republican blanket, that covers the elephant's back.
In the end, Democratic concerns about Bryan were borne out: Taft won a crushing victory, 52-43 percent in the popular vote, with a margin in the Electoral College of nearly 2 to 1. And the map was very accurate: Bryan won only three "grey" states, the mining states of Colorado and Nevada, and his home state of Nebraska. Taft's victory carried Hadley to a win by two percentage points, breaking a string of 11 consecutive Democratic victories in Missouri gubernatorial elections.
For other persuasive maps concerning Bryan's political career, Search > Bryan.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.