Blog 5; EOTO 2 - Horace Greeley

Horace Greeley 

    

Horace Greeley was an American journalist, publisher, editor, and politician who is known for his political legacy and newspaper, The New York Tribune. He was born on February 3, 1811, in Amherst, New Hampshire in a family of farmers. Horace's family went through some economic struggles, which resulted in him having inconsistent and irregular schooling that ultimately came to an end when he was fourteen years old. 

   Greeley did not want to become a farmer, and instead had bigger plans for himself. He worked as an editor's apprentice in Vermont for about 5 years, it was through this apprenticeship that Horace Greeley learned the value of news and how it operates. In 1831 he desired to improve his skills and taking matters into his own hands, he set out for New York City. The twenty-year-old Greeley found various jobs, one of which was a printer, and in 1834, he became the founding editor of a weekly literary and news journal, the New Yorker. Greeley even contributed to the newspaper himself,  and the New Yorker gained an increasing audience, therefore, giving him a widespread reputation. However, it failed to make money, and Greeley supplemented his income through writing, particularly in support of the Whig Party. 

    This caused him to catch the attention of and form connections with Thurlow Weed, William H. Seward, and other Whigs. This then led, in 1840, to his editorship of the campaign weekly, the Log Cabin. The paper's circulation rose to about 90,000 and contributed heavily both to William Harrison's victory and Greeley's influence. Greeley further directly participated in the Whig campaign by giving speeches, sitting on committees, and helping to manage the state campaign.

    His success in journalism encouraged him to undertake a new and more ambitious newspaper journey, and in April 1841 Greeley founded the New York Tribune, a daily Whig paper that was dedicated to promoting a wide variety of interests and causes. The paper soon became the largest daily paper in New York at that time and reached a circulation of about 200,000, although this number does not do justice to the influence the paper had because each copy often had more than one reader. Greeley additionally published a series of very compelling and convincing articles and editorials, and he eventually came to be considered the most outstanding newspaper editor of his time. His large and versatile staff all cooperated to help make the Tribune a huge success. 

    Greeley is also known especially for his vigorous articulation of the North’s antislavery sentiments during the 1850s. Compared to the other newspapers during this time the Tribune defied categorization and many causes were able to find a voice within its pages. In 1854 he transferred his allegiance to the newly emerging Republican Party, which he helped organize, and throughout the course of the decade published his vigorous articulation of the North’s antislavery sentiments. 

    After the Civil War Greeley pursued a erratic and highly controversial course. He lost much public respect by opposing Lincoln’s renomination in 1864 and by signing the bail bond of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis in 1867. Greeley joined a group of Republican rejectionists, and together they the Liberal Republican Party. In 1872, they nominated Greeley to challenge Grant, and as a result Greeley was attacked as a fool and a crank. The era of his personal editorship was ending, and as the Tribune grew in size, Greeley's influence on the paper greatly diminished. Following his defeat in the election, he found that control of the paper had passed out of his hands. Defeated and soured politically, suffering from the recent loss of his wife, and ill himself, he died on November 29, 1872.

    Horace Greeley was a highly influential and dedicated figure during the Civil War era of journalism. It it was not for him journalism today would not be the same. If not for his highly influential paper promoting anti-slavery, the war may not have gone the way it did. For this he is not only a journalism hero, but a hero of the American people and the freedom we all enjoy today.is influence is one that has been remembered overtime and still is to this day.