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The 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. |
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