“Journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you're at it.” (Horace Greeley)

"That poor white hat! If, alas, it covered many weaknesses, it covered also much strength, much real kindness and benevolence, and much that the world will be better for.” (Harriet Beecher Stowe’s remark about Horace Greeley)

There is little one can say about Horace Greeley that has not already been said, much of it during his lifetime, for unlike many others, fame came to him early, and by the end of his life, he was already one of the most famous men in the US. Of course, no one who knew him as a young man would ever have thought this would be the case, for he was born into less than ideal circumstances, and he went out to work early as a print setter. He experienced several business failures before finding success with the New York Tribune. 

On the other hand, he enjoyed quick but brief political successes, followed by frequent but unsuccessful runs for public office. In his 2017 essay “Emerson’s Newspaperman: Horace Greeley and Radical Intellectual Culture, 1836-1872”, David O. Dowling observed that Greeley “brokered his career in large part on public controversy, much of which he openly courted. In the process, he became victim to savage lampoons, particularly by Thomas Nast.... [H]is views elicited a deluge of responses precisely because his outspoken editorials had run counter to the status quo. A newspaper editor, Greeley insisted, was ‘not a mere jumping jack, who only needed to know what other people thought to ensure my instant and abject conformity to their prejudices’”.

At the close of a biography of Greeley, historian Glyndon G.Van Deusen noted, “His genuine human sympathies, his moral fervor, even the exhibitionism that was a part of his makeup, made it inevitable that he should crusade for a better world. He did so with apostolic zeal.... Greeley's effectiveness as a crusader was limited by some of his traits and characteristics. Culturally deficient, he was to the end ignorant of his own limitations, and this ignorance was a great handicap...symbolized an America that, though often shortsighted and misled, was never suffocated by the wealth pouring from its farms and furnaces.... [H]e inspired others with hope and confidence, making them feel that their dreams also had the substance of realty. It is his faith, and theirs that has given him his place in American history. In that faith he still marches among us, scolding and benevolent, exhorting us to confidence and to victory in the great struggles of our own day....”

Horace Greeley: The Life and Legacy of 19th Century America’s Most Influential Editor examines the various roles Greeley played in American politics during his life and how he shaped the debates. You will learn about Horace Greeley like never before.