From campaign rallies to news headlines, the US election sees the Democratic and Republican parties often represented by symbols of donkeys and elephants, respectively. But why exactly?
The answer lies in political cartoons that are over a century old and the state of American politics at the time. We explain.
Thomas Nast: the man behind the pictures
The famous American political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902) is credited with popularizing the depiction of large groups in the form of two animals in the late 19th century.
According to the The Smithsonian Magazine“It was a time when political cartoons… really had the power to change minds and sway undecided voters by distilling complex ideas into compelling presentations. The cartoons were powerful.” In fact, American President Abraham Lincoln, of the Republican Partyhe once called Nast his “best recruiting general” during his re-election campaign. Nast’s preference for Republicans was well known, too.
After all, Nast is also known for creating the most famous image – that of a bearded, red-clad Santa Claus.
The elephant and the donkey were meant to be mocked
In an 1870 magazine cartoon Harper’s WeeklyNast depicted a donkey kicking a dead lion. The donkey represented the part of the Democrats that did not like them, and the lion represented Lincoln’s recently deceased Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, whom the Democrats had criticized. It was titled, “A living dog kicking a dead lion!” So, the choice of donkey was deliberate, in the service of a pun used to show his low opinion of Democrats.
Nast’s cartoon of a Democratic donkey, from “Harper’s Weekly”, January 19th 1870. (Wikimedia Commons)
Although the group had requested a donkey before Nast, it was not by choice. This magazine noted, “In 1828, there [Democrat] Andrew Jackson was running for president, his opponents liked to call him a jackass… Emboldened by his opponents, Jackson adopted the image as his campaign symbol, rebranding the donkey as tough, determined, and purposeful, instead of wrong-headed, drunk, and stubborn.” Nast, however, is credited with popularizing the donkey over time.
Similarly, the elephant used to act in his cartoons as a huge and scary creature representing the Republicans, is certainly a better representation than the symbol of the Democrats. However, it was not above criticism.
A 2018 CNN The report found this to be the case in the “Third Term Panic” cartoon from 1874. Said the cartoon was an answer to The New York Heraldwhich supported some Democrats before the election and “spread rumors that President Ulysses Grant, a Republican, was considering running for a third term in 1876”. Although the election for a third term was illegal at the time, it created some fears about possible abuse from Grant.
“Third-Term Panic”, by Thomas Nast, first published in Harper’s Magazine in 1874. (via Wikimedia Commons)
“Nast, a proud supporter of the Party of Lincoln, painted the Herald as a donkey wrapped in a lion’s skin, scaring other animals with wild stories of Grant’s tyranny. “Among these animals is a giant elephant, an oafish called the “Republican Vote,” which looks like it’s about to fall off a cliff,” said a CNN report.
“Like the best sculptors, he ridiculed his own side as much as he did his opponents – therefore, he reimagined the GOP (Grand Old Party or Republican Party) as a weak, fearful creature that always falls into error. direction, its size is beyond responsibility there is property,” he added.
Legal adoption
John Grinspan, Curator at the Smithsonian American History Museum, told the press The Associated Press these presentations became popular at a time when loyalty to political parties was strong among voters. The animals were shown to be aggressive and engaged in the action.
Lisa Kathleen Graddy, another keeper, said that over time the “edge” given to the animals subsided due to the diminishing political divide: “They become physically rounder and have soft rounded edges. They don’t play that much, they may lift or kick or raise their trunk but they are no longer violent animals.” As polarization continues to emerge in US politics, these images may change again.