|
For cartoonist Thomas Nast to associate anyone with William Tweed, the former boss of Tammany Hall, who bilked New York City taxpayers out of $6,000,000, was the ultimate insult. Nast had been at the forefront of toppling Tweed from power, drawing a series of memorable cartoons in 1871-1872 which conveyed to the public the corruption of the Tweed Ring. Here, the ghost of the jailed Tweed laments that he, too, could have been nominated for president if only he had been an even bigger political boss, like James Blaine. The Republican nominee sits, looking at Tweed as if staring into a mirror. Blaine extends Tweed's recognition of the candidate's more widespread and notorious influence by pointing out that, unlike Tweed, he has had the unqualified endorsement of the New York Tribune and Robert Ingersoll, the lawyer who defended the perpetrators of the Star Route scandal (see
"A Job Lot"). |
|
Warning
1860
