he New Organ” is a provocative full-page cartoon in which Nast presents the
recently nominated Horace Greeley as dupe of the Liberal Republicans, especially
of the candidate’s campaign manager, Whitelaw Reid. On May 15, Greeley had
transferred editorial control of his newspaper to Reid for the duration of the
campaign and unconvincingly announced that the Tribune would cease to be
a party organ. The prospect of an organ that was alleged not to be an organ was
irresistible fodder for Nast. It lent itself directly to this cartoon of acting
editor Reid as a hand-organ operator using Greeley as his trained monkey while
they troll for votes in front of Democratic Head-Quarters. Vice-presidential
nominee Gratz Brown is a tag on the monkey-Greeley’s tail. The organ’s
repertoire consists of “The Bonny Blue Flag,” a Confederate war song (adapted
from the Texas War for Independence), and “Erin Go Brach,” an Irish song of
rebellion against the British.
A caption underneath quotes Greeley’s New York Tribune from February
1871: “The brain, the heart, the soul, of the present Democratic Party is the
rebel element in the South, with its Northern allies and sympathizers. It is
rebel to the core to-day.” Nast’s inclusion of the quote was a powerful shot
across the bow of the whole anti-Grant movement and was intended to alienate
Democrats who were preparing to adopt the Liberal Republican nominee at their
national convention in Baltimore on July 9-10, 1872. It was also meant to
underscore allegations that those Democrats would be in control of the odd
political coalition.
The attitudes of the assembled Democrats range from indifference to
perplexity to concern. The phrase “New Departure” (in the caption) was in wide
use by “progressive” Democrats anxious to move beyond the sectional animosities
of the Civil War. The trio immediately in front of the Greeley monkey are
(left-right): August Belmont, chairman of the Democratic National Committee,
and Horatio Seymour and Frank Blair, the 1868 Democratic presidential and
vice-presidential nominees, respectively. On the porch are past and present New
York City powerbrokers (left-right): businessman Cornelius Vanderbilt,
Congressman James Brooks, lawyer David Dudley Field, Judge George Barnard,
Police Commission President Hank Smith, State Senator Tom Fields, Congressman
Robert Roosevelt (uncle of Theodore Roosevelt), Peter Sweeny of the former Tweed
Ring, New York Governor John Hoffman, ex-Tammany Boss William Tweed, Richard
Connolly of the former Tweed Ring, Mayor Oakey Hall, New York Daily News
editor Benjamin Wood, and his brother, Congressman Fernando Wood. To the right
of the porch stands Police Superintendent James Kelso.
At the top, in the left window are (left-right): ex-President Andrew Johnson,
former Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and former Confederate Admiral
Raphael Semmes. In the front row of the right window are (left-right): editor
Manton Marble of the New York World; George Pendleton, the 1864
Democratic vice-presidential nominee; and Thomas Hendricks, Democratic nominee
for governor of Indiana. Barely visible behind Hendricks are the pope’s miter
and the bishop’s hat of John McCloskey of New York. The figure behind Marble may
be Senator James Doolittle of Wisconsin.
The press reaction to the cartoon was immediate. On the date of publication
(May 29) The New York Times carried a long editorial entitled “The
Pictorial Canvass,” which began by asserting that Greeley—“The Tammany Pet”—was
currently “obliged to spend his time in photographers’ rooms” presumably to
enhance his image. In describing one recently taken photograph, The Times
observed that Reid, characterized as Senator Fenton’s “wire-puller and
convention runner,” “is standing over him [Greeley] as if proud of having ousted
him from the editorial chair of the Tribune and led him into the most
ruinous mistake of his life.” Continuing, The Times bestowed high praise
on Nast’s cartoon: “The collection of portraits is admirable and … combined
with the humor and keen satire of the picture render it one of the most
effective drawings Nast has ever produced. It will be remembered long after H.
G. has repented in humiliation and bitterness …”
The Tribune responded with a satire entitled “Tom,” written by John
Hay, President Lincoln’s former secretary who was then employed as editorial
writer for the Tribune. The piece described an artist who was unable to
make a living at his art, so forsook it for the lure of easy money. The story’s
clear implication was that Thomas Nast had “sold out” to the Harper’s firm.