Thomas Nast

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7 Responses to Thomas Nast

  1. Ryan Mount says:

    A political cartoon about political cartoons? This post-modern approves!

    Gotta love the Tammany tiger though. One of the true great moments in American media. Note: no democracy was hurt in these depictions. Injury to likenesses of democracies are for entertainment purposes only.

  2. rl crabb says:

    Other Nast trivia: Nast was an early champion of black, Indian and Chinese rights, but after he converted from being Catholic to the protestant team he was a vicious critic of the Pope and Irish-Catholics, whom he portrayed as sub-human drunkards. Democrats never fared well in his cartoons until he endorsed Grover Cleveland over Republican James Blaine, who he considered too corrupt.
    Nast never took gifts from politicians and prided himself on being incorruptable, until he fell on hard times and accepted the consular post in Equador. That was his undoing, as he contracted yellow fever there and died.

  3. Ben Emery says:

    RL,
    I know about Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall machine but don’t remember Nast or should I say don’t know the name Nast. You have peaked my curiosity and will have to do some reading on him. Thanks

    • Robert Lovejoy says:

      One can only speculate what Nast would draw today concerning Eric Holder. Probably something rather Nasty. Irish are sub-human drunkards. I resemble that remark. Sad but true.

    • Ryan Mount says:

      Ben-

      Are you familiar with the 1863 “Draft Riots” in New York? Talk about the USA’s 19th Century version of the Arab Spring. Anyhow, Nast was front and center capturing the pictures, so to speak. He was working for Harpers, I believe.

      http://thomasnastcartoons.wordpress.com/selected-cartoons/new-york-draft-riots-of-1863/

      Here’s a little bit of trivia. As the draft mobs made their way towards the New York Times building presumably to burn the building to the ground, editor Henry Raymond somehow obtained two prototypes Gatling Guns and opened fire on the mobs.

      Sensing defeat, the mobs turned on rival paper New York Tribune, which was run by an abolitionist, and burnt it to the ground instead. Gotta burn something, I guess.

  4. You give Limbaugh way too much credit. Nothing he has done will endure more than five minutes after his last broadcast.

    You probably know the answer to this: Who created Uncle Sam for the World War I recruiting posters?

  5. And I am forever grateful to you Bob for introducing me to Thomas Nast through the biography of him that you lent me (I now have my own copy of it). Long may you wave my friend.

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