Besides Nast’s mastery
of caricature, knowledge of classic literature and
mythology, inventive mind, and impish sense of humor, the
incorporation of catchphrases and symbols into his cartoons
was one of his most effective, and sometimes devastating,
techniques. That skill is nowhere on better display
than in his images of Horace Greeley. This website
features Nast’s Greeley cartoons organized by four
catchphrases—“What I Know About…”; “Clasp Hands over the
Bloody Chasm”; “Anything to…”; and “Go West, Young Man, Go
West”—along with two symbols—the Gratz Brown nametag and the
organ that was not an organ. Nast’s relentless use of
these epithets and emblems merged into a negative public
image that helped bury the candidacy of Horace Greeley.
The
announcement that Greeley's newspaper, the New York Tribune,
would not be a party organ during the campaign was mocked as
hypocritical and false by Nast's slogan attached to a hand organ
and other musical instruments.
May 25, 1872, p. 416
June 8, 1872, p. 448
July 6, 1872, p. 536
August 24, 1872, p. 664
August 31, 1872, p. 668
September 7, 1872, p. 689
September 28, 1872, p. 745
September 28, 1872, pp. 752-753
October 12, 1872, p. 792
October 19, 1872, p. 813
November 2, 1872, p. 848
November 9, 1872, pp. 872-873
November 16, 1872, pp. 896-897
November 23, 1872, pp. 912-913
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