Have you ever wondered about the symbols of two of the major parties fighting in the US presidential elections? It is one of the most frequently asked questions that anyone observing US elections has.
According to a CNN report the arrival of elephants and donkeys to depict the republicans and democrats respectively were first seen in the mainstream media back in 1874, when cartoonist Thomas Nast used an elephant to depict the Republican vote in his drawing "The Third-Term Panic."
In the drawing, an "ass" -- depicting the New York Herald -- scares away other animals in a forest as the elephant -- or the Republican vote -- looks like it's about to stumble into a pit.
The cartoon was published in Harper's Weekly after the owner of the New York Herald reportedly criticized the notion of Republican President Ulysses S Grant running for a third term.
Grant did not end up running in the next election.
However, that cartoon isn't where the Democratic donkey originally came from.
In 1828, Democrat Andrew Jackson's critics called him a "jackass" because of his populist views and his slogan, "Let the people rule." Jackson decided to run with it -- even using images of a donkey in his campaign ads.
Later, in keeping with this line of thought, Nast also used a donkey to depict the Democratic Party in that cartoon, according to a report in CNN.
And, from then on the party and the popular media both took on the use of these two symbols. But with time the impressions associated with the symbols have evolved.
No comments:
Post a Comment