A Puck of a Good Time

Ulysses Grant in America’s First Successful Humor Magazine

Puck Gave Grant all due honor upon his death—c. 29 July 1885

I recently came into a plethora of Puck Magazine issues in digital form. It was the first successful satirical magazine in the United States, and was published between 1871-1918. Many of the cartoons were published in elaborate color. It began as a German publication in Missouri, but quickly moved to NYC at the request of investors, who also demanded a London version. It was formed by Joseph Keppler, an Austrian who once worked for Harper’s Weekly (like seriously how many Germans worked for Harper’s!).

The magazine reflected the German influence on American society including a concerted progressivism, a hatred for the Catholic Church (actually all religions), and for the Irish (always drawn in Monkey face, similar to Harper’s illustrator and fellow German, Thomas Nast). However, the magazine lampooned everyone. It was uproariously funny. The magazine also, given its progressive bent, had a disdain for political offices (because of the influence of Tammany: their false dichotomy was patronage or expert governance, as if, NYC was the center of the universe, and politics could be overcome). So the magazine supported, to the point of irrationality, the beginnings of the deep state in the form of civil service reform. Experts Rule! Politics can be scientific if we follow History (that nagging German mistress of the modern age).