Democrats are 'donkeys', and Republicans are 'elephants': how US parties chose their symbols

145 years ago, the famous political cartoonist Thomas Nast inflicted an insult on the American Democrats that seemed difficult to endure. Air force.

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The cartoon "Donkey Kicking a Dead Lion" was published in Harper's Weekly on January 15, 1870. The object of ridicule was the US Democratic Party.

Four years later, Nast ridiculed the Republican Party, portraying it as an elephant, scared to death at the sight of that same “democratic” donkey in a lion’s skin.

However, neither one nor the other public ridicule was perceived negatively - Republicans and Democrats took the images of the animals depicted in the caricatures as their unofficial symbols.

These symbols still exist as talismans of political parties. And Thomas Nast became one of the most famous cartoonists in the United States.

In those years, he was such an influential person in politics that even Abraham Lincoln recognized his merits.

Jackson

By 1870, the word “ass” had been in the vocabulary of American politicians for nearly three decades.

Historians note that for the first time this nickname was stuck to the first US presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson.

His opponents nicknamed him “the donkey” for his populist slogans and calls, of which one, namely “let the people rule,” was particularly ridiculed.

Democratic donkey and republican elephant

“He stood for people power. And they said that the people were stupid, that they were not capable of governing. Jackson unexpectedly liked this because the donkey symbolizes stubbornness, he stands his ground. And Jackson made it his personal emblem. But this did not become widespread,” says American historian and publicist Vladimir Abarinov.

Despite or thanks to such a symbol, Andrew Jackson eventually became the first Democratic president in US history.

The politician proudly carried this symbol through his entire presidential term. According to contemporaries, he really had a very stubborn character.

Jackson continued to be called a donkey even after he left the presidency in 1837, but until 1870, when Thomas Mast ridiculed all Democrats with his caricature, this nickname applied only to him.

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Insult or symbol?

The cartoon "Donkey Kicking a Dead Lion" satirized Democratic Party supporters quite harshly.

The donkey in that drawing symbolized the newspapers of the southern states, which sympathized with the Democrats, the dead lion - the recently deceased Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War in the administrations of Presidents Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, including during the entire period of the American Civil War.

Southerners Democrats were reminded of the recent painful defeat in the Civil War.

In addition, the donkey in the signature was called not by the word donkey, but by jackass, which in American slang is a rough designation of a dull mind.

In general, it was a gross insult, no matter how you look at it. However, the Democrats took up the challenge, and the image of a donkey began to appear in their newspapers by the next campaign.

He remains the subject of controversy, with party critics calling the donkey stubborn, stupid and ridiculous, while Democrats call him humble, smart, brave and hardworking.

Where did the elephant come from

The elephant is the symbol of the US Republican Party. The huge animal began to be associated with this political force during the years of the Civil War. The founder of the party Abraham Lincoln at that time widely used the Father Abraham newspaper to spread influence on the maximum number of the electorate. "AIF".

One of the editorials in 1864 depicted an elephant carrying a banner and celebrating the imminent victory in the war. The eared giant, on the one hand, symbolized the power of Lincoln, and on the other, played on the popular slang phrase “seeing an elephant,” which meant participation in hostilities.

Finally, the elephant "stuck" to the Republican Party only a decade later. Then the Democrats won the majority in the House of Representatives of the US Congress for the first time since the Civil War.

This event on the pages of Harper's Weekly magazine decided to make fun of the cartoonist Thomas Nast, who portrayed the Republicans in the form of an elephant, which moves back towards the cliff, looks around fearfully and walks away from a donkey in a lion's skin kicking him.

The role of the donkey was assigned to one of the main mouthpieces of the Democrats - the New York Herald newspaper. She wrote that Republican President General Ulysses Grant is a modern Caesar seeking a third presidential term.

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Thomas Nast

The author of some of the brightest symbols of American politics, Thomas Nast was probably the most famous cartoonist in the United States. He is often referred to as the father of American political cartoons.

It is believed that Nast had a major influence on the entire presidential election from 1864 to 1884, working as an illustrator for Harper's Weekly.

His merits in the election struggle were recognized after the election victory by Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant - Nast was a staunch Republican, liberal and supporter of progress (the Republican Party at that time represented the interests of the northern states, while the Democratic Party supported southern landowners and was more conservative).

“He twice supported Ulysses Grant, the general and candidate of the Republican Party. He did this very effectively, especially in 1872. Then he simply destroyed Horace Greeley, Grant’s main competitor in the elections, with his cartoons,” explains Vladimir Abarinov.

"Father" of Santa Claus

Among other things, Nast became famous for his fight against New York Mayor William Tweed, a man whose name in the United States literally became the personification of corruption and theft in politics.

Historians acknowledge that Nast, who cartoons of Tweed in the 1870s, as a result played a key role in his deposition, arrest, and then the trial in his case.

During the Civil War, Nast drew a large series of drawings dedicated to this conflict, and not only cartoons, but also just sketches.

Finally, Nast came up with the image of Santa Claus - that same merry Christmas fat wizard whom the whole world now knows.

At the end of his life, he almost went broke, and in 1902, an old friend Theodore Roosevelt offered him the post of consul in Ecuador so that he could make ends meet.

Unfortunately, he arrived in Ecuador in the midst of an outbreak of tropical fever, fell ill and died there.

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