A Thomas Nast illustration depicting Santa Claus, from Harper’s Weekly, January 3, 1863.
1862
Thomas Nast begins documenting the Civil War and politics through caricature in Harper’s Weekly. Nast creates the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant that remain party symbols to this day, and is the first to draw the modern-day Santa Claus in Harper’s Weekly (1863). His cartoons influence New York politics as well as presidential elections.
