Page Four
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sunday. November 6. 15
Fellows of Infinite Jest
Political cartoons have plaNed a colorful role in American history . . . ancd
histronics. Rising to prominence under the pen of Thomas Nast in the late 1800's.
their popularity has persisted to heavily influence the elections of our own time.
By PETE ECKSTEIN cartoonist was a man well known an irreverent contrast with Christ's Well might he complain. Tweed NAST'S influence on America i
to the list of firsts-Benjamin entrance into Jerusalem. himself gained 100 pounds in felt today. The modern car-
. YEAR from today the UnitedFranklin. His drawing of a snake American cartoons have changed Nast's representations of him as a toonist would rather part with
States will hold its forty-third cut into 13 parts-each represent- radically both in appearance and ludicrous cigar store Indian (see his right hand than with the party
Presidential election. ing a colony--was widely circu- means of circulation since Wash- accompanying cartoon) or as a symbols Nast devised - the ele.
Many voters will profess to make fated before the Revolution. "Unite ington's day. Early drawings, like lecherous kidnapper of small child- phant and the donkey. (Needless
their decisions on the basis of or Die" was its warning. Franklin's snake, were ploddingly ren. to say, Nast was a Republican.)
party platforms, speeches, person- allegorical and rarely witty. It was the latter cartoon that The modern Santa Claus was also
alities, and editorials. But during WITH THE coming of American Printed with woodcuts or copper proved Tweed's downfall. Having the product of Nast's fertile draw-
the course of the campaign more Presidential elections the car- engravings, they were often bound escaped to Europe when the ing board.
people than would care to admit toonist had bigger targets than and sold as separate publications. voters (influenced greatly by Nast) Nast and his contemporaries
it will be influenced by a quiet, ever. George Washington was As lithographs proved less ex- put the Ring out of business, Tweed wrought great changes in the car-
stubbornly independent fellow elected unanimously in the elec- pensive their use spread. Litho- was arrested by a Spanish police- toon. Lengthy texts and quota-
whose face is quite unknown but toral college, but among the car- graphed cartoons of the early 19th man who recognized him from tions were largely discarded. Often
whose work is instantly recog- toonists there was dissent. One century tended to concentrate Nast's work. The charge was kid- the picture was allowed to stand
nized--the political cartoonist. artists depicted Washington riding more on facts than. on artistry, napping. by itself with the briefest of cap-
The first American political into New York mounted on an ass, more on detailed quotations set off The mixup was soon corrected, tions. It was not a sign of grow-
in loops than on comic or biting however, and Tweed was sent ing illiteracy but a flexing of the
characterization. home to America, tried and con- cartoonists' artistic muscles.
Currier and Ives, best remem- victed. See AND NOTHING, Page 5
bered for their staid New England
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"THE TATTOOED MACN" reflected Republican dismay at reve-
lations about the activities of their 1884 candidate, James G.
Blaine. Without toga, the labels Corruption, Anti-Chinese, Dema-
gogism, and Little Rock Railroad (from which Blaine solicited
bribe atplainly show. ".Culligan letters," one of the tattoos,
refers to esome of Blaine's indiscreet correspondence to railroad
officials.
countryside scenes. were also ac-
tive publishers of lithographed
cartoons often presenting both
sides of an issue or campaign.
TOWARD THE middle of the
centry, populai shot-lived
a eeka croppede up by the dozens.
"Vanity Fai. "Joln Donkey" and
"Yankee Nations" were a few of
the i ehicles by li Ih c artoonists
influenced their publics.
But the most famous of all was
Harper's Weekly, and it gained its
fame chiefly through the talents
of Thomas Nast.
The Bavarian-born artist came
to prominence dusin lthe Civil
W;ar with his drawings of Union
Army camp sceees. Lincoln termed
Nast his "best recruiting sergeant."
With the end of the war Nast's
work lost its reverent aspect and
took on a seldom-surpassed origi-
ality and sense of the satirical.
The Tweed Ring of New York's
Tammany Hall was his most fam-
ous esmsy. He struck at it with
a ruthlessness tiat mathed that
of the Risg itlf as il gree fat
on tise fruits of office.
AST DREW the Tweed Ring
sometimes as great. predatory
birds, other times as haughty
Romans watching from their Coli-
seum box the savagery of the soon-
infamous Tammny Tiger. Tweed
is reported to have offtered Nast a
half-million dollar bribe and is
said to have exclaimed in disgust,
"I don't r.re what th'y write
about nec, bt why nca n't eystoi
those horrible ca rtaons?"
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-Frank Beard-The Judge
"I WANT MY PA!" isa abarbd allusion to admitted illicit relations
between 1884 Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland and a
Buffalo widow. Paternity of her child was never established,
however. Private lives of candidates may be dragged into the
1956 campaign, with two divorced men, Stevenson and Harriman,
contending for the Democratic nomination.
-Thomas Nat-HarperW eekly
"SAVE ME FROM MY TOBACCO PARTNER," cries a desperate Horace Greeley. "Do somebody
arrest him, or I shall never get to the White House." The partnership was more apparent in Nast's
cer.oons than real, but such attacks made 1872 Democratic candidate Greeley question whether he
s running for the Presidency or the penitentiary. Nast's efforts to discredit Tweed and Tammany
Millhave .:!ace- I a igma on the New York City Democratic organioaion that may handicap Tam-
os'ny Chief De apie n'xt year in his efforts to gain the nomination for Harriman.
"THUS ONLY (A.' I REACH THE THRONE," Vice-Presidential
eandidate Mar in Van Buren is pictured as saying, while being
Carried on tlce b a s'k of Andrew Jackson. When the Senate re-
jced sVan ure' omination as minister to Great Britain,
'akon was infsri'tssd. When he ran for re-election, Jackson
ke'd "T''as Li Ic Ici'n' us his runninl mate, and true to
tie carstoonsutt's Isre",etitun, saw to it hat 'a Buren was nomi-
matei sii tIe residesey is I; 'le drus sey Ia' its
10 usuterpart ssuld t'rcsiu t lishau'r ties' as busost to
Viu'e'Pre'sidcst Hixoua.