How the Republican Elephant and Democratic Donkey were born

I've often wondered how we ended up with the donkey and elephant as the mascots for our Democratic and Republican parties.

Why a pachyderm and an oft maligned member of the horse family? Why not a dog and cat, or Mickey and Donald, or a mongoose and cobra? I just had to know!

I soon learned that it didn't take an act of Congress to set these two party symbols in stone, nope, just one creative Harper's Weekly cartoonist by the name of Thomas Nast .

Nast first featured a donkey (in a cartoon) in 1870 in Harper's Weekly. The donkey represented the Copperhead Press whom Nast saw as Northern Democrats who were anti-union and racist. The donkey is kicking a lion that represents President Lincoln's deceased Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton.

We first saw the Republican elephant in 1874 in Nast's cartoon "Third Term Panic." The elephant bears the title of "Republican Vote" and, frightened by a donkey cloaked in lion's skin, he stumbles toward a pit labeled "Inflation" and "Chaos."

Democrats boast that the donkey is smart and brave, while Republicans tout the elephant as strong and dignified.

At a rally in Virginia on November 4, 1960, JFK said, "You have seen these elephants at the circus, with their heads full of ivory, thick skins, long memory, no vision, & when they move around the circus ring, they grab the tail of the elephant in front of them."

Thomas Nast was one of the most influential cartoonist's in American history. Nast played a part in creating the images of Uncle Sam and Santa Claus that we're familiar with today. Nast was a Republican before the parties shifted their philosophies.

The German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist passed away in 1902 at the age of 62.

Fascinating stuff to a trivia buff like me!

^{Bo Obama Dog Blog sources: FactMonster.com, HowStuffWorks.com, Wikipedia.org}

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Thomas Nast was one of the most influential cartoonist's in American history. Nast played a part in creating the images of Uncle Sam and Santa Claus that we're familiar with today. Nast was a Republican before the parties shifted their philosophies.