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Neal Gabler in an April 10, 2003 article entitled "Pax Schwarzenegger" published on salon.com wrote: "'The notion that the president is a cowboy -- I don't think that's necessarily a bad idea,' Vice President Cheney recently remarked on Meet the Press. In invoking the cowboy, the Europeans are right to think that images matter, that they can penetrate the national consciousness, and that they can shape how the country conducts itself. And they are right that the president and his posse often do behave like a bunch of gunslingers who seem to love frontier brinkmanship. But in a much deeper sense, the Europeans are wrong, largely because they don't really understand the western and its values. As much as Bush may look like a cowboy and act like a yahoo, his foreign policy generally, and the Iraq war specifically, are actually a dramatic departure from the paradigm of the dour, sensitive gunslinger that for generations seemed to serve as a kind of template for American conflict. Under George W. Bush, America is no longer a cowboy nation. It is more like a cyborg nation with a brand-new paradigm -- not the cowboy but the Terminator, the robot from the popular films of that name. Call it Pax Schwarzenegger." |
| Photograph On the Bar ZT Ranch Witchekan, N.S.C. Unknown photographer, ca. 1910 2003.282 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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| Wayne Lutz in his November 30, 2002 article, "The Cowboy In Us All," posted on www.tocquevillian.com, writes "It is telling that, to the Liberal Mind, the application of the "cowboy" brand is an act of derision. To shrill liberal columnistas, smugly superior Europeans, frightened Canadians and Al Gore (a class by himself) a 'cowboy' is a being to be looked down upon and shunned, a being to which the more enlightened can feel superior, a being to be treated as a play-acting child. It is telling - especially in light of the Republican Cowboy sweep in the recent mid-term rodeo...President Bush is a cowboy. The American people, the heartland, the mainstream, understand instinctively what the elite intellectual classes - especially the Europeans and Canadians - could never understand. We see the cowboy in George W. Bush, and it resonates. It resonates because it stirs the cowboy in us. America, you see, is a nation of cowboys, hard as that may be for the elitists to swallow." |  |
| Tintype Studio portrait of the hatless cowboy and the businessman Unknown photographer, ca. 1890 2003.283 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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Bruce Walker in his December 19, 2003 article, "Compassionate Cowboy," posted on strangecosmos.com writes, "Leftists, particularly Leftists from dinky European nations like Belgium, Denmark and Vermont, have contempt for any American 'cowboys.' Cowboy means more that plain old cowboys; it means hillbillies, roughnecks, lumberjacks and any other men who live a tough outdoor life. Cowboys are supposed to be dangerous dummies who drink too much and shoot revolvers on town streets. Americans view cowboys very differently...It is not accidental that the two American presidents most loathed by Leftists are also the two most commonly called 'cowboys' - Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush...The tricks and shadows of the Leftist mind can not conceive that a bundle of virtues like courage, independence, patience and strength could also be naturally connected to compassion, earnestness, honesty and faith. The Left does not see that cowboys are good, not bad. That includes cowboys in the White House, who protect us from the outlaw gangs which understand only a steely eye and a well aimed barrel. The rest of us - normal people in Bagdad, Birmingham, Basra or Butte - understand and appreciate compassionate cowboys." |
| Cased tintype Three cowboys enjoying beverages Photographer unknown, ca. 1890 2003.288 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
From a February 18, 2003 article in The Moscow Times entitled, "Experts: U.S. Must Not Act Like a Cowboy in a Saloon," Natalia Yefimova writes regarding the Iraq War that "most of the speakers [at a foreign policy round table] agreed that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein poses an international security threat. But they felt this did not justify, in [Sergei] Markov's words, Washington's 'behaving like a cowboy in a saloon' and could set a dangerous precedent." |
| Barbara Cubin, U.S. Congresswoman from Wyoming in a press release entitled "A White Hat in the White House" at house.gov dated March 28, 2003 writes: "Many of the pundits on television and diplomats at the United Nations have recently complained that we have a cowboy in the White House in George W. Bush. They say that the President would do well to avoid giving that impression, as the American people don't want to see that sort of person serving as our nation's commander-in-chief. This came as a bit of a shock to me. There are a lot of ways I don't want to see my President act. I don't want to see him act like a philanderer or a liar. I don't want to see him act like a coward like the some of the folks over at the U.N. But a cowboy? I have to say, acting like a cowboy suits me just fine. Cowboys have been known throughout history as being true of heart and quick to right wrongs. Cowboys believe in courage and honor and justice, and strange notions like defending the weak and standing when a lady enters the room. Perhaps cowboys have gotten a reputation as being hasty because they're not afraid to draw a line in the sand and stand their ground. Perhaps if the United Nations had acted like a cowboy we would not be where we are today." |  |
| Photograph Thomas Alexander Crawford at left with unidentified saddle partner Photographer unknown, ca. 1890 2004.012.23 Gift of E. Cathleen Hardy |
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Born around 1861, Thomas Alexander Crawford (in the foreground), hailed from Kerr County in south central Texas. At age 15, he participated in his first trail drive, later driving cattle for Schreiner, Light & Lytle. In 1879 Schreiner sold cattle to Crawford and his boyhood friend, Sebe Jones, and they established a ranch on Kiowa Creek on the No Man's Land line. No Man's Land was northwest Texas, western Kansas, eastern New Mexico and Oklahoma Territory. After selling his ranch and cattle, Crawford moved to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Country in Oklahoma Territory (organized on May 2, 1890) and established a ranch near what would become Crawford. When this part of the Territory was opened on April 19, 1892 and the counties had been designated by the Secretary of the Interior, the county was known as County "E." However, at the first election the name "Day" was selected. When Oklahoma became a state on November 16, 1907, Day County was eliminated. Legislators divided the county along the Canadian River, the north half merged with newly formed Ellis County, the south half became part of Roger Mills County. |
| Cabinet photograph Round up on Cimarron - No Man's Land - 1887 Photographer unknown, 1887 2004.012.28 Gift of E. Cathleen Hardy |
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| The man on the left wears a white or tan duster made of heavy linen or lightweight canvas with a small, split, flop-over collar. The duster's sides laid over both sides of the horse's rib cage. Introduced before the 1880s, the slicker (also known as saddle coat and pommel yellow slicker), worn by the man on the right, was made of heavy cloth, canvas or duck, and waterproofed with linseed oil. When worn, the slicker covered the entire saddle as well as the rider and ensured a dry seat. |  |
| Buck Ramsey in a chapter of the 2000 book, Cowboy Poets & Cowboy Poetry , edited by David Stanley & Elaine Thatcher, is scornful of Henry Kissinger when he compared himself to a cowboy by acting alone and "leading the caravan alone." "Offering himself up as America's cowboy, he dragged the tribe down to a level no one bottomed until Ronald Reagan was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame [National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum]. When political leaders such as these cause murder and mayhem to people who won't act the way American corporate bosses think they should, pundits call them 'cowboys,' intending disdain. They greatly insult the thing compared to and lend honor undeserved to that compared." | Tintype Two cowboys wearing hats and boots; one wears a duster, the other a slicker Photographer unknown, ca. 1885 2004.013 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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On June 6, 2003, Kathryn Westcott in her article entitled, "Bush revels in cowboy speak" for BBC News Online writes, "President Bush says he is going to appoint a coordinator to 'ride herd' Middle East leaders along the peace trail. You would be forgiven for not understanding what he meant. Its meaning most likely eluded the leaders from the Middle East who he was meeting. '[I could] see them scratching their heads,' the US president told assembled reporters on Air Force One as he flew out of the Red Sea resort of Aqaba on Wednesday. 'I don't know if anybody understood the meaning, it's a little informal in diplomatic terms,' he added, chuckling. 'He probably didn't mean it but his [ride herd] metaphor is tinged with being slightly patronising. Translated literally, it means that he will want things to go in the direction he wants them to go' [said] Western culture expert Lee Clark Mitchell." |
| Photographic postcard Unidentified Oklahoma cowboy on horse Photographer unknown, ca. 1910 2004.016.1 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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| Louis C. Bradford in his article "Among the Cow-Boys," appearing in the June 1881 issue of Lippincott's Magazine wrote, "Often for thirty-six hours continuously in the saddle, the hardships of their lot are apparent, cold black coffee, without sugar, drunk whenever the opportunity offers, is the sole luxury of the cow-boy. With a piece of bread in one hand and some jerked beef in the other, he will ride around a stampeded herd, eating as he goes, and as happy as a king on his throne." |  |
| Cabinet photograph Six unidentified cowboys in studio Photographer unknown, ca. 1890 2004.018 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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Marvin Olasky in his February 26, 2004 article, "Bush the cowboy, take two," posted on townhall.com writes, "A year ago, just before the Iraq War began, Lexis-Nexis showed 800 articles over one month's time linking the words "Bush' and 'cowboy,' almost always in a derogatory way. This year, my search revealed 'only' 610 -- so maybe reporters are getting tired of beating the drum. Or maybe European and American liberals who attack President Bush in this way (as they attacked Ronald Reagan) are realizing that for most Americans, 'cowboy' is not a bad word. As one reader of this column who is a working cowboy, Bo Bowman of Montana, wrote last year, ‘A cowboy is someone who is honorable and who does the right thing even if it's going to cost him.'" |
| Tintype Unidentified cowboy in vest and hat with stock whip Photographer unknown, ca. 1890 2004.021 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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| According to an article entitled "Roping with the Lariat" appearing in an 1890 issue of the Deming Headlight, authentic records of roping with the lariat probably do not exist. "Preposterous" records include a California man traveling with the Buffalo Bill show of 164 feet, while 94 feet was claimed by a Billings, Montana man. "The average cow puncher from Texas to Montana uses a rope which barely reaches fifty feet, and from twelve to fifteen feet must be deducted from this measure for the circumference of the noose. Sometimes a so called 'California loop' exceeds this by nearly five feet...No doubt with a horse at full gallop down hill, the wind favorable and a good long rope, an expert may reach 100 feet, but such cases are few and far between, and most good ropers feel extremely pleased when they can reach out the full length of their forty-five foot rope and catch." |  |
| Cabinet photograph Unidentified cowboy wearing neckerchief, hat & chaps and holding rope Photographer unknown, ca. 1890 2004.034.1 Purchase by Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center |
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