James G. Blaine as Tantalus (Puck, v. 16, no. 396, October 8, 1884) - J. Keppler

Artist :

Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand (1838-1894)

Date :

1884

Type of image :

Chromolithographie

Topic :

Classical Mythology. Tantalus

Storage Location :

Washington, Library of Congress

2011661833
Illus. in AP101.P7 1884

Description

James G. Blaine as Tantalus, chained to a large rock inscribed "Mulligan Letters". The rock is inscribed with "Guano" and "Northern Pacific R.R.". Blaine struggles to reach a table laden with food and drink inscribed "Presidential Cake", "Favoritism" and "Loot".

Candidate in the 1876 presidential election, James Gillespie Blaine was compromised in the Mulligan Letters scandal. He was allegedly bribed by the Union Pacific Railroad, which paid him $64,000 for worthless Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad bonds. Despite the scandal, Blaine is elected Senator. He was the Republican candidate for the 1884 Presidential election, but was defeated by Democrat Grover Cleveland.

History :

3. The magazine Puck recurrently uses the Tantalus figure for its illustrations and cartoons.

Textual Sources :

Technical Data

Notice #025304

Image HD

Image editing :

Image web

Image Origin :

Bibliothèque numérique de la Library of Congress, Washington (https://www.loc.gov)

Licence CC0 1.0 universel

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