In light of the drama that is the 2012 presidential election, I wanted my post this week to focus on the longstanding tradition of smear campaigns. I wanted to find a historical newspaper that highlighted this, but unfortunately after much searching I was still unable to find one. Instead, I posted a link to a political cartoon from 1804. This particular cartoon is attacking Thomas Jefferson for allegedly having an affair with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. Jefferson is depicted as a cock because it was a symbol of revolutionary France, which he was known to admire.
Today politicians are ridiculed for using smear tactics against their opponents. Their campaigns are charged for being overly defamatory, personal, and insensitive. Smear campaigns are anything but a new phenomenon. The tradition of attacking political opponents is as old as the American election process itself. One of the most infamously tumultuous elections was one of the nation’s very first elections – the election of 1800. The election was between the Virginian Thomas Jefferson and John Adams from Massachusetts. Unlike today, the only medium to disseminate information to a mass audience during the era of the early republic was through publications. Thus, the best way for a politician and his crew to state their views or criticize their opponent was not orally, but through penmanship.
Newspapers and other publications printed statements so slanderous and offensive that they arguably would not be permitted in today’s more recognizable newspapers. Thomas Jefferson’s team called John Adams a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman." Adams was also often referred to as “His Rotundity” – a reference to his rather round belly. Those behind John Adams were no more sympathetic, accusing Jefferson of being “a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father." In this time of the early republic the concept of “political correctness” had not yet developed. Although journalists and politicians still criticize members of the opposing party, the repercussions for insensitive statements are much harsher.
LINK: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/images/vc140.jpg
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