Right today as it was nearly 100 years ago.

[Drunken Irishman]

[thucythucy]

1. Wow! Amazing find!

Thank you for this.

[IrishAyes]

2. Love it.

That was after my house was built, and I like to decorate with period-compatible things. That will look great on my office wall.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Drunken Irishman.

[littlemissmartypants]

6. ^eom

[Stuart G]

4. Thank You..k and r

[philly_bob]

5. Confused by American political party history.

Remember, it was the Democrats who were pro-slavery before the Civil War, and the Republicans were anti-slavery abolitionists. Nate Turner and Abe Lincoln were Republicans.

Then the parties switched sides on racial matters somehow (see Wikipedia article on GOP

This implies that by 1914, the parties had also traded conservative/liberal positions on women's suffrage issues, so the Democrats supported women and Republicans opposed, just like today.

I have never understood this aspect of American history.

Anyway, great photo!

[Aristus]

7. Conservative or liberal, The Republican Party has always been the party of big business.

I thought the Republican switch from progressive to conservative was gradual. Turns out it happened rather fast.

Theodore Roosevelt groomed William Howard Taft to succeed him as President. Despite his bellicosity and nationalism, Roosevelt was pretty progressive for his day. He expected Taft to continue his progressive agenda regarding the corporations.

When Taft got into office he reverted instead to the pro-business stance of William McKinley. This enraged Roosevelt so much, he formed the Progressive Party, (nicknamed the Bull-Moose Party by Roosevelt himself) and ran against Taft in 1912. Roosevelt and Taft split the vote among liberal Republicans, conservative Republicans, progressives, and corporatists, thereby throwing the election to the conservative, racist Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

By the time of the Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover Presidencies, the position of the Republican Party in the conservative camp was unshakably established.

[mountain grammy]

10. Thanks for a nice, concise history lesson.

[Drunken Irishman]

12. Pretty much. It happened in one election cycle.

When T.R. left office, and was replaced by Taft, the modern Republican Party was born - one that catered to big business and ran far to the right. The Democratic Party had already lurched left with the nomination of Bryan in 1896, 1900 and 1908 - with Wilson solidifying the party to the left of the Republicans.

[philly_bob]

18. My thanks also for the history lesson.

To help me remember this story: in the 1908 election, Republican Trust-Buster Roosevelt's hand-off to Republican Taft went way wrong. In office, Taft turned from Trust-Buster into corporatist. Is that about it?

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

17. I find it confusing as well. I never know what to say to the RWers who claim "their party" ended

slavery. I know damn well most of the Rs now would have been on the Confederate side.

[Cha]

8. Mahalo DI!

[sheshe2]

9. Thank you!

[oldandhappy]

11. Thank you lots.

This is excellent. I appreciate this find.

[IcyPeas]

13. it must be in their DNA

[Hekate]

14. Good find.

[Major Hogwash]

15. Great picture!

And the GOP has never swerved from their stance of denying women their full rights!

I talked to my grandmother many years ago about when she voted for the very first time, and when she talked about Republicans, she would just say "ooooohhh" and shake her head, and then look down at her feet.
I always figured it was because she wanted so badly to swear about them, but somehow she maintained her composure and wouldn't say anything sinful like that.

[Indydem]

16. Funny, history is such a contradiction.

It was Republicans (by a wide margin) that supported the 19th through at the federal level.

I wonder why the state level parties were such the reverse.

Weird.