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“An Independent Victory / ‘We Love Him Most for the Enemies That He Has Made’”
The Democratic Party was compelled to nominate a man with a clean record--one whose knees will not yield to Boss Kelly.
This cartoon celebrates the Democratic National
Convention’s nomination of Governor Grover Cleveland of New York for
president. The cover of
this issue of Harper’s Weekly
is a full-page portrait of the nominee, and the second page carries an
official endorsement in the lead editorial, written by George William
Curtis. Although other liberals had broken ranks with the
Republican Party in 1872 to back maverick Horace Greeley, Curtis,
cartoonist Thomas Nast, and Harper's Weekly had remained
loyal. The difference in 1884 came when the Republican National
Convention, meeting on June 3-6 in Chicago, nominated James Blaine,
former senator and secretary of state, for president.
In
an editorial, Curtis summarized the three reasons why he and other
reformers opposed Blaine so adamantly:
1) his involvement in various scandals; 2) his imperialist
foreign policy; and 3) his record as a spoilsman who resisted civil
service reform and reform in general.
Curtis and Nast were joined in the 1884 revolt by Nation
editor Edwin L. Godkin, former senator and interior secretary Carl
Schurz, and other prominent reform-minded liberal Republicans. Those
who bolted were nicknamed “Mugwumps,” purportedly an Algonquin name
for chief, but derided by regular Republicans as meaning one who sits on
a fence, with his “mug” on one side and his “wump” on the other.
Curtis, Nast, and Harper’s
Weekly were long-time enemies of Tammany Hall, the leading
Democratic political machine in New York City.
Nast’s cartoons had been instrumental in arousing public
opposition in the early 1870s to the corruption of Tammany Hall’s
notorious Tweed Ring. Nast
similarly depicted John Kelly, William Tweed’s successor, as a venal
spoilsman. As
governor of New York (1883-1885),
Cleveland refused to allocate patronage to Tammany Hall, thus provoking
their enmity. However, the Democratic governor did support the Democratic
machines in Brooklyn and New York County.
Yet, to Nast and other reformers,
Cleveland’s
repudiation of Tammany Hall and his firm commitment
to honest and efficient government
were enough to generate
their enthusiastic appreciation and support. In seconding
Cleveland’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in July
1884 (shortly before this cartoon was published), General Edward Bragg
of Wisconsin memorably remarked that Cleveland's supporters “love him
most of all for the enemies he has made.” Nast spreads the quote
across the top of his cartoon to emphasize Cleveland's anti-Tammany
credentials.
Standing tall and erect in the
cartoon, Cleveland is portrayed as
an honest and incorruptible (“clean”) politician, who has the backbone to
prevail over disreputable machine politicians like Kelly.
Cleveland’s
nomination, though, is not presented as a victory merely for the Democratic Party, but
for independent voters of any partisan affiliation. Nast may also be
giving credit (largely unwarranted) to Independent Republicans like himself
for influencing the Democratic selection process.
“Boss” Kelly is pictured as a disgruntled Indian chief,
considering whether to stab Cleveland in the back. A forlorn Benjamin
Butler, who had himself desired the Democratic nomination, sits on
the ground in the shadows between Cleveland and Kelly.
During
the 1884 presidential campaign, Nast drew the vast majority of the
cartoons in Harper's Weekly, in which he concentrated his efforts
on attacking Blaine and his supporters.
Only a few cartoons, such as this one, featured Cleveland or dealt
directly with the Mugwump
revolt.
For
more information on the election of 1884, see HarpWeek’s Presidential
Elections Website.
Robert C. Kennedy
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