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 The Democratic National Convention

 “Red Hot!”
  Source:  Harper’s Weekly
  Date:   July 13, 1872, p. 560

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Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
The July 13, 1872 issue of Harper’s Weekly contains a small Nast plate in the supplement after the end of the regular section.  It shows Greeley hunched over a steaming bowl of “My Own Words and Deeds,” doing his best to choke them down.  Although there is no direct evidence, it seems likely that Nast availed himself of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee’s file of Greeley’s speeches and writings.  Organized by Senators James Edmunds and Zachariah Chandler, up to 300 staff members and funds of $30,000 were allocated toward searching through 30 years of Greeley materials to find the former editor’s inflammatory statements and frequent self-contradictions.  The Edmunds-Chandler task force adopted the technique of the modern press agent, publishing a monthly magazine and a pamphlet called “The Greeley Record,” as well as distributing a “clip sheet” of damning information to newspapers across the country.

 

 
 

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