Homer
Davenport was
born in Silverton, Oregon, in 1867. William
Randolph Hearst employed Davenport as a political cartoonist on
his newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner.
In 1895 Davenport moved to Hearst's New
York Journal. At the time, Hearst was involved in a
circulation battle with Joseph Pulitzer
and his New York World. Davenport's
role was to compete with Richard F. Outcault,
Pulitzer's popular cartoonist.
During the 1896 presidential campaign Hearst and Davenport supported
William Jennings Bryan against the Republican
candidate, William McKinley. As McKinley
had an unblemished record in politics, it was decided to concentrate
the attack on his campaign manager, Mark Hanna,
the successful industrialist. After the election he produced a drawing,
explaining how he had turned Hanna into an image of greed and manipulation.
Homer Davenport, Mark Hanna
New York Journal (8th November, 1896)
Thomas
Platt,
the prominent Republican politician,
responded to Davenport's attack on Mark Hanna
by trying to persuade the New York legislature to pass an anti-cartoon
bill. Davenport retaliated by comparing Platt to Robert
Tweed, the former corrupt political boss of New York that had
been brought down by the cartoons of Thomas
Nast in Harper's Weekly.
William Randolph Hearst made Davenport
the highest-paid cartoonist in America but this did not stop him moving
to Harper's Weekly. He also switched
his support from the Democrats to
the Republicans. Davenport also campaigned
against business trusts and child
labour. Homer
Calvin Davenport died in 1912.
Homer Davenport, Robert Tweed and Thomas
Platt:
They Never Liked Cartoons (New York Journal, 1898)
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