Santa Claus American cartoonist of the 19th century. In 1863, a picture of Santa illustrated by Nast appeared in "Harper's Weekly". Thomas Nast immortalized Santa Claus with an illustration for the 3 January 1863 issue of "Harper's Weekly". Santa was dressed in an American flag, and had a puppet with the name "Jeff" written on it, reflecting its Civil War context. The story that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole may also have been a Nast creation. His Christmas image in the "Harper's" issue dated 29 December 1866 was a collage of engravings titled "Santa Claus and His Works", which included
Thomas Nast lecturer and a sketch-artist. His activity on the lecture circuit made him wealthy. Nast was for many years a staunch Republican. Nast opposed inflation of the currency, notably with his famous rag-baby cartoons, and he played an important part in securing Rutherford B. Hayes' presidential election in 1876. Hayes later remarked that Nast was "the most powerful, single-handed aid [he] had", but Nast quickly became disillusioned with President Hayes, whose policy of Southern pacification he opposed. The death of the "Weekly"s publisher, Fletcher Harper, in 1877 resulted in a changed relationship between Nast and his editor George William Curtis. His