AH'M AFRAID TO GO HOME IN DE DARK [Cover illustration lithograph from JUDGE magazine]

New York: Judge Company. Very Good. 1908. First Edition. Print. 1 pages; Image clean and clear, with bright white matting. Image measures 13 X 9.25 inches; matted measures 22 X 14 inches. Full page cover of JUDGE magazine for April 11, 1908 depicting William Jennings Bryan as a golliwog (African American caricature) with a basket of eggs representing electoral delegates, some of them dropping to the floor and cracking. Beyond the door is a sign pointing to Denver (site of the Democratic National Convention), and hiding in the dark is an image of Bryan's primary challenger Minnesota Governor John Albert Johnson with a threateningly raised hatchet labeled "Minnesota Delegates." The 1908 U.S. Presidential election occurred in the backdrop of the Progressive achievements of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt's second term as well as against the U.S. recovery following the Panic of 1907. In this election, Roosevelt's chosen successor, Republican William Howard Taft, ran in large part on Roosevelt's Progressive legacy and decisively defeated former Congressman and three-time Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. This Judge illustration refers to the primary challenge to Bryan whose most formidable challenger was Minnesota Governor John Albert Johnson. Johnson's rags-to-riches story, honesty, reformist credentials, and ability to win in a heavily Republican U.S. state made him popular within the Democratic Party. Johnson ultimately was unable to overcome Bryan, and by the end of June 1908 Bryan had the two-thirds of the delegates needed to win the nomination. At the 1908 Democratic National Convention, Johnson released his delegates to Bryan, helping Bryan to win the nomination on the first ballot. .