Horace Greeley
From Philosopedia
Greeley, Horace (1811—1872)
Greeley was born in Amherst, New Hampshire, the son of poor farmers. Leaving school at the age of 14, he apprenticed as a printer, moved to New York City in 1831 when 20, and in 1936 married Mary Cheney Greeley, a suffragette. Of their seven children, only two survived.
After founding the New-Yorker in 1834 (not be confused with The New Yorker, which began in 1925), Greeley combined it with other publications to form the New-York Weekly Tribune. As its editor and owner, he advised adventurers to “go West.” Pace University now is on the site where the Tribune building had been, and a statue in his honor is there.
A regular attendant at the Universalist church on Broadway and Orchard Street in New York City, he fought for black suffrage and amnesty for all Southerners following the Civil War.
“There is no doctrine of Christianity,” he wrote, “but what has been anticipated by the Vedas.”
Editor Greeley signed the bail bond which released Jefferson Davis from prison. He also was one of the founders of the Republican Party.
The Final Year
Greeley Helps Murder Blacks - An 1872 Nast Cartoon
Greeley was nominated by the Liberal Republican Party in 1872 as its presidential candidate, and surprisingly the Democrats endorsed him. He argued that Reconstruction was a success, the war was over, the Confederacy destroyed, and slavery was dead. It was time to pull federal troops out of the South and let the people there run their own affairs. A weak campaigner, he was mercilessly ridiculed as a fool, an extremist, a turncoat, and a crazy man who could not be trusted by the Republicans. The most vicious attacks came in cartoons by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly. Greeley ultimately ran far behind the Democratic ticket and he won only 43% of the vote.
This crushing defeat was not Greeley's only misfortune in 1872. Greeley was among several high-profile investors who were defrauded by Philip Arnold in a famous diamond and gemstone hoax. Meanwhile, as Greeley had been pursuing his political career, Whitelaw Reid, owner of the New York Herald, had gained control of the Tribune.
Not long after the election Greeley's wife died. He descended into madness and died before the electoral votes could be cast. In his final illness, spotting Reid, he cried out "You son of a bitch, you stole my newspaper," and died at 6:50 p.m. on Friday, November 29, 1872, in Pleasantville, New York, at Dr. George C. S. Choate’s private hospital. Even though Greeley received no electoral votes, three of Georgia's electoral votes were left blank in honor of him.
Greeley had requested a simple funeral, but his daughters ignored this request and arranged a grand affair. He is buried in New York's Green-Wood Cemetery.
The Greeley home in Chappaqua, New York, now houses the New Castle Historical Society. The local high school is named for him, and the name of one of the school newspapers pays homage to the 19th-century paper owned by Greeley.
