The arrest of 'boss' Tweed — another good joke
1871
Thomas Nast was the cartoonist who essentially took down one of New York's most corrupt politicians, William 'Boss' Tweed, using nothing but his pen. In this biting 1871 illustration, Tweed sits bloated and smug in his chair, surrounded by his cronies, while the personification of America (Columbia) looms in the background looking thoroughly unimpressed. Nast's relentless cartoons in Harper's Weekly exposed the Tammany Hall ring's massive theft of public funds, proving that a drawing could be more dangerous to a corrupt politician than any legal indictment.
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