Irish Americans Should Support Thomas Nast’s Induction Into The NJ Hall of Fame
So should the Assemblymen who are opposed to his nomination
Thomas Nast, the 19th century political cartoonist who gave Harper’s Weekly enough political influence to topple Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall and to sway the election of two presidents, Grant and Cleveland, has been nominated for the New Jersey Hall of Fame’s class of 2012.
Nast, who popularized the image of Santa Claus and the partisan symbols of Donkeys and Elephants for Democrats and Republicans had an undeniable and enduring impact on American culture.
Nast lived in Morristown for over 20 years, starting in 1872.
His nomination to the NJ Hall of Fame has generated controversy from the Irish Catholic community who contend the artist was a anti-Irish/anti-Catholic bigot because he frequently depicted the Irish as drunken apes and Catholic bishops as crocodiles. Neil Cosgrove of New City, NY wrote in a Letter to the Editor in The Star Ledger that Nast is “the father of hateful and negative anti-Irish stereotypes that Irish-Americans continue to struggle against today.”
This Irish-American Catholic hasn’t struggled against stereotypes today, or any other day that I can remember.
Three New Jersey Assemblymen have jumped on the anti-Nast bandwagon. NorthJersey.com reports that Wayne DeAngelo (D-Mercer) and Dave Rible (R-Monmouth) have called on the NJ Hall of Fame to withdraw the nomination. Scott Rumana (R-Passaic) issued a press release echoing DeAngelo.
Pardon. Franchise. Columbia.-"Shall I trust these men, and not this man?" ~ Harper's Weekly, August 5, 1865
The Assemblymen and the Ancient Order of Hibernians have it wrong. Nast was not a bigot. Far from it. His political art, starting during the Civil War and through Reconstruction was fervently pro-equality for Blacks and other minorities.
'"The Chinese Question.' Columbia- "Hands off, gentleman! American means fair play for all men."' ~ Harpers Weekly, February 18, 1871
Nast’s anti-Irish and anti-Catholic cartoons were political, not ethnic or religious.
Morton Keller, Professor of History at Brandies University addressed Nast’s anti-Irish, anti-Catholic work on the centennial of the cartoonist death:
It may be asked why Nast’s sympathy for blacks, Indians, and Chinese did not extend to the Irish and Catholicism. Mid-nineteenth century liberals—and Nast certainly was one of them—regarded the Catholic church as the fount of anti-modernism and fanaticism. (See fig. 16.) This attitude was reinforced by the commitment of many Irish-Americans to the Democratic party, hostility to abolition, and Negrophobia. The intertwining of his hostility to the Church, the Irish, and the Tweed Ring suggest that for him this was another chapter in the ongoing struggle to preserve the American Union, and Lincoln’s new birth of freedom, from its enemies. In this sense the Confederates, the anti-Reconstruction, pro-Johnson Democrats, and the Tweed Ring and the Catholic church were parts of a collective whole. It stirred in Nast the peak of his distinctive mix of artistic inventiveness and political passion. (See figs. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22.)
These drawings spoke to the political and social concerns of the core urban constituency of wartime and postwar Republicanism: Protestant farmers, professional and businessmen, shopkeepers, artisans.
This is Nast’s third year as a nominee for the New Jersey Hall of Fame. He’s up against tough competition in the “General” category. If not for the controversy, I would have chosen between Milton Friedman, Joyce Carol Oates or Governor Tom Kean.
But I voted for Nast and hope you do too. My fellow Irishmen from the Ancient Order of Hibernians should have researched Nast before making a PC stink and acting like Tommy DeSeno with his rants about how Italian-Americans are depicted in the movies. If the controversy the Hibernians created over Nast puts him over the top of the voting and into The Hall, it will be just comeuppance.
Posted: December 13th, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Ancient Order of Hibernians, Dave Rible, Governor Tom Kean, Joyce Carol Oates, Milton Friedman, Morton Keller, New Jersey Hall of Fame, Scott Rumana, Thomas Nast, Tommy DeSeno, Wayne DeAngelo | 7 Comments »