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.
Nast
incorporated the slogan into his cartoons to emphasize the
desperate extremes of the Greeley campaign efforts to defeat
President Ulysses S. Grant.
April 13, 1872, p. 284
Beat Grant
May 4, 1872, p. 352
Beat Grant
May 11
1872, p. 364
Beat Grant
May 25, 1872, p. 401
Make Our Republic Look Ridiculous
May 25, 1872, p. 408
Beat Grant
June 1, 1872, p. 440
Beat Grant
June 8, 1872, p. 448
Get Votes
July 6, 1872, p. 536
Beat Grant
July 27, 1872, p. 585
for Revenge
August 10, 1872, p. 617
Get In
August 10, 1872, p. 624
Get Chestnuts
August 17, 1872, p. 633
Beat Grant
August 17, 1872, p. 637
Beat Grant
September 14, 1872, p. 713
Any Thing! Oh, Any Thing!
September 21, 1872, p. 744
Beat Grant
September 28, 1872, pp. 752-753
Beat Grant
October 19, 1872, p. 804
Beat Grant
November 23, 1872, pp. 912-913
Beat Grant
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