The Whirligig of Time

Two men face each other outside the U.S. Senate. The taller figure, labeled A. Johnson from Tenn[essee], clutches a sheaf of Speeches and tucks a top hat under his arm — Andrew Johnson, impeached president turned senator, returning to Washington. The shorter, disheveled figure holds what appears to be a portfolio, looking up at him with wary recognition. The caption delivers the irony: "Here we are again!" — the whirligig of time depositing yesterday's disgraced executive back in the very chamber that tried to remove him. Nast treats Johnson's Senate return as political farce: hubris rewarded, institutional memory short. The caricature exaggerates both men's features for comic effect, a technique standard to the period's illustrated press.