The caricaturist Thomas Nast also invented the Republican elephant. In 1874, Nast drew a cartoon for the American magazine Harper’s Weekly in which a horde of startled zoo animals – among them an elephant called „the Republican voters“ – were running away from a donkey dressed as a lion.
For almost 150 years, the elephant has been used as the symbol of the Republican Party. The party emphasises that elephants are particularly strong, intelligent and dignified.
To the German translation of this article: Das Maskottchen der Republikanischen Partei – der Elefant