July 1: Rough Riders

Jacob Wilbusky, a 16-year-old cowboy from Texas, was the first of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders killed in action in Cuba on this date in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. The following year, during his run for the New York governorship, Roosevelt would be endorsed by “Jewish Members of the Republican State Committee,” whose Yiddish handbills played upon Jewish resentments towards Spain for its centuries of Inquisitorial persecution. The Committee urged that “Every vote for the COLONEL OF THE ROUGH RIDERS is approval of McKinley and the War. Every vote for Roosevelt’s opponent . . . is a vote for Spain. . . . Vote for Theodore Roosevelt. Vote to express your approval of Spain’s defeat.” This aggressive, imperialistic war did not impress the Jews much, however: Roosevelt failed to carry the Jewish Lower East Side and lost New York City by 60,000, even while winning the gubernatorial election.

“WHO TAKES REVENGE FOR US? . . . Every respectable citizen, every good American and every true Jew, must and will vote for the Republican gubernatorial candidate -- Theodore Roosevelt.” —Yiddish flyer