The campaign Santa Claus

1908

Frank Arthur Nankivell turns the jolly gift-giver into a political operative in this 1908 cartoon. Here, the Postmaster General dons a Santa suit to stuff stockings not with toys, but with campaign literature for the upcoming election between William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan. The bag labeled 'U.S. Mail' is overflowing with pamphlets like 'Mr. Taft on the Tariff' and 'Mr. Bryan's Conception of the Presidency,' satirizing how government resources were being used to distribute political stats right to people's homes—hence the sign 'What is Home without Statistics.' It's a hilarious snapshot of early 20th-century political spam!

Technique: Color lithograph
Material: Paper

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