Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast was a German American political cartoonist and illustrator who lived from 1840 to 1902. Nast is often referred to as the “Father of the American Cartoon”. His art played prominent roles across the field of politics in the late nineteenth century.
Nast was born in Landau, in southwestern Germany. His father had different political leanings than the Bavarian government at the time. Nast’s father sent his family to New York City where he would eventually join them after serving his enlistments on a French and American ship. As a child, Nast did poorly in school, though he excelled at art. His father saw his potential and sent Nast to the National Academy of Design to study art when he was 16 years old. That same year, in 1856, Nast was first published as an editorial cartoonist in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. Three years later, in 1859, his cartoons were in Harper’s Weekly.
Nast’s political cartoon career really took off during the Civil War where he depicted battlefields and soldiers. He had his own opinions in the Reconstruction methods and drew political cartoons blasting President Andrew Johnson’s approach.
However, Nast is most remembered for his cartoons against Boss Tweed, the Tammany Hall Democratic political machine leader. Boss Tweed controlled the majority of what happened in both New York City and New York State politics. In fact, Nast became a huge threat to the stability of Tweed’s power, and Tweed tried ineffectively to bribe Nast. Tweed was eventually arrested in 1873.
The rest of Nast’s career focused on supporting American Indians, opposing racial segregation, advocating against the violence used by the Ku Klux Klan. Nast’s cartoons also played a prominent role in helping to get both Rutherford B. Hayes and Grover Cleveland win the presidential elections. In 1902, Nast was appointed as the US Consul General to Ecuador by Theodore Roosevelt, where he unfortunately got infected with yellow fever. Thomas Nast died in 1902 at 62 years of age.
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