(Pictured above: A caricature of Boss Tweed as depicted by Thomas Nast)

Thomas Nast has a special place in my heart that’s reserved for the most obnoxious of social activists. Born on September 27, 1840, Nast was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist responsible for a number well known, and less well known, works of art that changed public perception regarding a number of issues (Paine 1997).

Chiefly among the issues he tackled were moneyed interests and corruption in politics, vis-a-vis the Tweed Ring in New York. Widely regarded as the most blatantly corrupt political group in American history, the Tweed Ring feared no man until Nast started drawing pictures of Tweed in prison attire and portraying him as a fat, out of touch socialite who profiteered at the expense of the poor and helpless (Paine 1997).

Intimidated by the courage Nast’s cartoons were instilling in a previously easily-manipulated public, the Tweed Ring attempted to bribe Nast into silence, eventually offering him $500,000, an absurd amount of money in 19th century New York, to simply stop cartooning about them (Paine 1997). After leading the Ring along for a short time, Nast turned the offer down by saying, “Well, I don’t think I’ll do it. I made up my mind not long ago to put some of those fellows behind bars (Paine 1997)”

Nast’s campaign against the corrupt Tweed Ring ended in unmitigated success. He started to really put the pressure on them in 1870 and 1871, and in the November election of 1871, the Tweed Ring was removed from power through the voice of the people (Paine 1997). In 1873 Tweed himself was arrested and convicted of fraud (Paine 1997).

The final insult from Nast came in 1875, when Tweed fled to Cuba and then Spain to get away from his fraud charges. While seeking to disappear in Spain, he was identified by authorities and returned to the United States to pay for his crimes thanks to a rather unflattering cartoon of Tweed that had been drawn by none other than Nast himself (Paine 1997).

Paine, Albert, Bigelow. 1997. Thomas Nast, His Period And His Pictures. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House.