Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I admire Horace White, born August 10th 1834. After graduating from college in Wisconsin, he edited a Chicago newspaper. The anti-slavery activist volunteered for an organization that provisioned pro-freedom settlers in Kansas. White reported on the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Friendship with Abraham Lincoln began when they met on the campaign trail. His articles in the Chicago Tribune helped make the Republican candidate nationally prominent: "Progressing with his theme, his words began to come faster and his face to light up with the rays of genius and his body to move in unison with his thoughts. His gestures were made with his body and head rather than with his arms. They were the natural expression of the man, and so perfectly adapted to what he was saying that anything different from it would have been quite inconceivable. Sometimes his manner was very im...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I explain how the elephant came to symbolize the Republican Party. August 9th 1860, the Illinois State Journal newspaper described a campaign rally in Springfield. GOP presidential nominee Abraham Lincoln had thanked an immense and enthusiastic crowd the previous day. Atop the article was a picture of an elephant, with the captions WE ARE COMING! and CLEAR THE TRACK! The Cincinnati Gazette reported that "Mr. Lincoln's bearing today, under such a tribute of personal popularity and admiration as I have never before seen paid to any human being, more and more convinces me of the real greatness of his character." Republicans also carried signs comparing Lincoln's running mate to the famous Carthaginian general: "Hannibal Hamlin, the first man who showed the Elephant to the Romans!" Soon, other newspapers be...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Charles Nagel, born in Texas, August 9th 1849. During the Civil War, his anti-slavery parents escaped with their children to Mexico and then to Missouri. He studied at Washington University Law School and the University of Berlin. Political activity began with a term in the state house, followed by chairing the St. Louis city council.  In 1908, Nagel became Republican National Committeeman. Recognized for "strong business instincts and large experience with industrial, fiscal and transportation affairs," he co-founded the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Nagel served as Secretary of Commerce and Labor during the William Howard Taft administration. His tenure ended after four years when the Department was divided in two – one for Commerce and another for Labor. He was delegate at the 1932 Republican National Convention. Back to Ba...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics – and condemns Democrat devilry. Political violence is nothing new for Democrats In the years following the Civil War, Slavery Party thugs formed terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the White League. They murdered thousands of African-Americans. August 8th 1868, a Republican newspaper published an editorial illustration entitled One Vote Less . It depicts a former slave murdered by Democrats in order to lower Republican voter turnout. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the future of theirs. For more information, see www.grandoldpartisan.com .  Here is a YouTube Video about this article. Here is a TikTok Video about this article. Here is an Instagram Video about this article. Here is my Substack about this ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Daniel Morrell, born August 8th 1821. Age fifteen, he went to work for a Philadelphia bank. Having relocated to Johnstown, this industrious Republican became general manager of the nation's largest steel mill. Other businesses included a gas and water utility as well as a bank. He also chaired the town council. In 1866, Morrell won first of two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He voted for the Reconstruction Acts and the 14th and 15th Amendments. President Rutherford Hayes named him envoy to the Paris Exposition. He was delegate to the 1884 Republican National Convention. Morrell is best remembered for his persistent warnings that a nearby dam could collapse. He even offered to finance repairs, but to no avail. The ensuing disaster was the infamous Johnstown Flood. In 1966, a Great Lakes freighter named for him sank during a stor...