On this date in 1887, the Bismarck Tribune reported on an exciting celebrity visit. Political cartoonist Thomas Nast stopped in the city during a lecture tour that took him from coast to coast. Tickets for his appearance in Bismarck were sold out.
Nast was known as “the father of the American cartoon.” His satirical art took on serious topics such as crime and slavery. It was quite an accomplishment to attract him to Bismarck. During his lectures Nast drew illustrations of national and local celebrities, delighting his audiences.
Nast popularized the political symbols of the donkey for the Democratic Party and the elephant for the Republicans. Abraham Lincoln gave credit to Nast for helping him get elected in 1864. Ulysses Grant said he was elected president in 1868 thanks to “the sword of General Sheridan and the pencil of Thomas Nast.”
Today we see photographs and videos of people and events around the world, but in the Nineteenth Century, people relied on newspaper artists like Nast. Without such artists, people wouldn’t even know what President and other national figures looked like.
The St. Paul Daily Globe made Nast sound like something of a superhero. The newspaper said Nast “struck terror to the hearts of evil-doers of New York.” In 1868, Nast had begun criticizing Boss Tweed and the political machine of Tammany Hall, a campaign renowned in the annals of political cartoons. Legend has it that Tweed ordered his men to find a way to stop Nast, saying: “My constituents can’t read. But they can understand pictures.” Ironically, when Tweed escaped from jail and went to Spain, he was arrested by an official who recognized him from Nast cartoons.
One of Nast’s most famous and iconic figures had nothing to do with politics. It was Santa Claus. Nast first drew St. Nick in 1863, showing him delivering presents to children in a Union Army camp. Using Clement Moore’s description of the “jolly old elf” in The Night Before Christmas, Nast’s version of Santa Claus evolved into the figure we are familiar with today.
But in 1887, the eagerly anticipated visit by the famous cartoonist did not work out well for the citizens of Bismarck. They were in for a huge disappointment. The combination of an unheated hall and a blizzard resulted in the cancellation of Nast’s lecture.
Dakota Datebook by Carole Butcher
Sources:
Bismarck Historical Society. “It Happened in Bismarck.” http://www.bismarckhistory.org/it-happened-in-bismarck/?&offset=900 Accessed 17 November 2018.
St. Paul Daily Globe. “The Cartoon’s Power.” 1 December 1887. St. Paul MN. Page 3.
Ohio State University. “Thomas Nast Biography.” https://cartoons.osu.edu/digital_albums/thomasnast/bio.htm Accessed 17 November 2018.
