This activity caused a public reassessment of Tillman, who was best known for giving speeches that shocked the North and made even southerners cringe. Writers suggested he was merely presenting an image as "Pitchfork Ben", that he could turn on and off as needed. He came to be regarded in the North as acceptable and even respectable, with some suggesting he had matured during his time in the Senate. "The Saturday Evening Post" compared Tillman with a coconut; hard, rough, and shaggy on the outside, but within, "the milk of human kindness".