History of the Donkey and Elephant Symbols
Published December 15, 2008
The donkey and elephant are widely recognized in the United States as the official icons of the Democratic and Republican parties. For well over a century, these animals have been used on posters, pins, T-shirts and other political paraphernalia. But where did these political symbols come from and what do they mean? Petside decodes them for you.
The Donkey
Tracing the political symbols to their beginnings, the donkey came first. It began in 1828, when Andrew Jackson was running for President. He was immediately labeled a "jackass" for his populist views and slogan, "Let the people rule."
Jackson turned that nickname into a campaign tool, using a donkey on all of his promotional posters. After he was elected and vetoed the re-chartering of the National Bank, the donkey was used to symbolize Jackson's stubbornness on the issue.
In 1837 the donkey was used for the first time in a political cartoon to represent Jackson and the Democratic Party. The cartoon was titled "A Modern Baalim and his Ass," and depicted Jackson trying to get the donkey to go where he wanted it to.
Despite this history, the person credited for making the donkey the Democratic symbol is political cartoonist Thomas Nast. He used it in an 1870 issue of Harper's Weekly to indicate an anti-Civil War group with whom he disagreed. The public loved it, and Nast continued to use the donkey to indicate Democratic newspapers and editors. Democrats saw the donkey as humble, courageous, loveable and smart.
The Elephant
In 1874, The Herald ran a completely untrue story to build their circulation called "The Central Park Menagerie Scare," where they reported that the animals in the zoo had broken loose and were roaming Central Park in search of prey.
Thomas Nast created a cartoon to run along with this piece, dubbed "The Third Term Panic." It included different animals representing varying political issues, running away from a donkey (The Democratic Party).
An elephant was labeled "The Republican Vote" and the symbol stuck. Republicans liked the elephant because they viewed it as dignified, strong and intelligent.
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Comments (5)
The colors Red & Blue came about by the media when local, state, U.S. maps on television began being used regularly in depicing party voting blocks and election results in the mid-1990s. The media who rapid association and close ties to the Democratic party quickly began labling/coloring Democratic associated depictions on the maps BLUE. This ensured they were linked to the more positive Blue color and avoid RED which in battles and war is depicted by RED. Essentially BLUE is traditional the good guys and RED the bad guys. RED has also been used to associate with Socialists and Communists throughout history, hense Red Communists, Red Chines, and the RED flag used by a majority of Communist governments and organizations worldwide.
Unfortunately, no matter how pretty you paint the jackass, it still is what it is. Stupidly stubborn is still its primary characteristic.
The origins of these political images lie in the mind of a German-born political cartoonist named Thomas Nast, whose drawings also helped create modern images of Uncle Sam and Santa Claus. -County Line Nissan
How ironic, the elephant became the republican symbol as a result of a lie and the republicans are still lying.
It would be interesting to know how the colors, red & blue , came about.