Statue of Horace Greeley, City Hall Park
Horace Greeley (1811-1872)
was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal
Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken
opponent of slavery. The New York Tribune (which he founded
and edited) was America's most influential newspaper from
the 1840s to the 1870s and "established Greeley's reputation
as the greatest editor of his day." Greeley used it to
promote the Whig and Republican parties, as well as
opposition to slavery and a host of reforms ranging from
vegetarianism to socialism.
Crusading against the corruption of Ulysses S. Grant's
Republican administration, he was the new Liberal Republican
Party's candidate in the 1872 U.S. presidential election.
Despite having the additional support of the Democratic
Party, he lost in a landslide. He is the only presidential
candidate to have died prior to the counting of electoral
votes.
Photo 301, Oct 2010