File:Puck v16n391 (1884-09-03) (IA PuckV16n39118840903).pdf

Puck was America's first successful humor magazine, featuring colorful cartoons, caricatures, and political satire of the issues of the day. It was published from 1871 until 1918.

The cover artwork by the magazine's co-founder Joseph Keppler (1838-1894) caricatures Republican politician James G. Blaine (1830-1893).

Blaine is depicted as a penitent kneeling before a Catholic priest in a confessional (portrayed as New York Tribune editor Whitelaw Reid), seeking absolution for a long laundry list of sins. Blaine was running for President in 1884 on the Republican ticket against Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland. The campaign focused on the candidates' personalities, as each candidate's supporters cast aspersions on their opponents. Cleveland's supporters (who included Puck's editors) accused Blaine of all manner of corruption including the awarding of railroad charters.

In the Fall presidential election, Cleveland narrowly defeated Blaine by winning all four of the "swing states" (Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, New York). While the popular vote total was close, with Cleveland winning by just one-quarter of a percent, the electoral votes gave Cleveland a majority of 219–182.

The centerfold illustration by Bernhard Gillam (1856-1896) shows Grover Cleveland as a lion with his paw on a monkey labeled "T. Grady" on top of a rock labeled "Civil Service

Reform" near a small fire in which are roasting chestnuts labeled "City Spoils, State Spoils, [and] National Spoils Chestnut"; Cleveland is looking over his right shoulder at a group of monkeys in a tree, among them are John Kelly, Charles A. Dana, Benjamin F. Butler, Henry Ward Beecher, and three monkeys labeled "Dynamiter, Ward Boss, [and] N.Y.

Alderman"