In this episode of The Road to Now, Richard Samuel West joins Bob and Ben for a conversation on the history of political cartoons in the United States. West tells of how political cartoonists went from independent artists in the early 19th century who sold their work on the streets to become powerful actors in American politics just a few decades later. He also explains how technological and social forces led to the rise, and eventual fall, of political cartoons as a form of satire, and how one of America’s most powerful and corrupt crime bosses was brought down by a single artist and his drawings.
Thomas Nast’s 1876 cartoon of Tammany Hall’s Boss Tweed led to Tweed’s arrest when fleeing to Spain.
Richard Samuel West is the coauthor of What Fools These Mortals Be: The History of Puck (IDW Publishing, 2014 w/ forward by Bill Waterson) and the founder of Periodyssey, which specializes in “significant and unusual American paper.”
This episode is the first in a two-part series on taxation and the economy. For an alternative take on the GOP and Tax Policy, check out episode #89: The GOP and Tax Reform Revisited w/ Brian Reidl.

This episode brought to you with support from our sponsors at Ramseur Records. Go to RamseurRecords.com & enter promo code history at checkout for 10% off your next purchase.
