GREELEY, HORACE
\ɡɹˈiːlɪ], \ɡɹˈiːlɪ], \ɡ_ɹ_ˈiː_l_ɪ]\
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(1811-1872), was born in New Hampshire. In 1833 he edited the Evening Post, the first daily penny paper ever issued, and in 1834 founded the New Yorker. He was editorially connected with the Jeffersonian and the Log Cabin, campaign journals of considerable popularity, and in 1841 issued the first number of the Tribune, which he continued to edit until his death. It was at first Whig, then Anti-Slavery Whig, then Republican, employed the most eminent men of the day on its staff, proclaimed the most popular and radical views, and was the most influential paper in America. From 1848 to 1849 he represented New York in the U.S. Congress, where he redressed abuses of the mileage system. He earnestly advocated the abolition of slavery during the war, and made most powerful appeals to the administration through the columns of his paper. During the period of reconstruction he advocated universal amnesty and impartial suffrage, and became one of the bondsmen of Jefferson Davis in 1867. In 1872 he was Presidential candidate for the Liberal Republican and Democratic parties, but was defeated by General Grant. Eccentric in habit and in thought, frank and open-minded, firm in his convictions, ever mindful of the welfare of society, he was called by John G. Whittier, "the later Franklin."
By John Franklin Jameson