What does GOP mean?

[The Sister]

I just heard a commentator say 'Grand Old Party' - what does that mean?

[Michael]

I just heard a commentator say 'Grand Old Party' - what does that mean?
That is, believe it or not, the 'official nickname' of the Republican party. :D

[The Sister]

That is, believe it or not, the 'official nickname' of the Republican party. :D

Anyone know how they got the nickname? There must be a story about a Grand Old Party somewhere.

[SonofaHun]

Anyone know how they got the nickname? There must be a story about a Grand Old Party somewhere.

I found this: http://www.essortment.com/all/historygop_rswf.htm

G.O.P. is s an abbreviation of "Grand Old Party", and both are nicknames of the U.S. Republican Party.

The nickname dates from the late nineteenth century. Some folks place it as early as 1870. The nickname, or variations of it, was definitely in place by 1884, ten years after Harper's Weekly illustrator Thomas Nast created the elephant symbol that is associated with the party today. In that year, "G.O.P." appeared New York Herald article, and, more prominently in a Boston Post headline announcing, "G.O.P. Doomed".

Why Grand Old Party? Grand and its synonyms, wonderful or great, are fairly obvious. Old, however, may be a misnomer. By the late nineteenth century, the United States had firmly settled into a two party system. The Republican Party was established in the 1850's. It put forth its first presidential candidate in 1856, and, in 1860, won the presidency with Abraham Lincoln. So the Republican Party was definitely established. The Democratic Party, however, was over 20 years older, having been founded in 1832.

[The Sister]

Thanks Sonofahun - still doesn't seem to answer why 'Grand and Old' for a party only 20 years old then - does it?

Does the Democratic Party have a nickname too? Why a donkey?

[bug]

Apparently, a political cartoonist named Thomas Nast was responsible for the elephant/donkey thing. http://history.howstuffworks.com/american-civil-war/donkey-elephant.htm/printable He was a Republican, no big suprise there :) Learn something new every day.

[Michael]

Does the Democratic Party have a nickname too? Why a donkey?
The donkey apparently originates as a 'slur' upon President Andrew Jackson's name when he was called "jackass". Jackson apparently took to the name and used it as a symbol for a time.

The symbol was resurrected sometime later by a cartoonist named Thomas Nast and thus has endured as an unofficial symbol of the Democratic party ever since.

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_jackson)

[The Sister]

The donkey apparently originates as a 'slur' upon President Andrew Jackson's name when he was called "jackass". Jackson apparently took to the name and used it as a symbol for a time.


Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_jackson)

Excellent story! And makes perfect sense if I read Andrew Jackson right!

There has got to be an equally oddball explanation for the elephant and the Grand Old Party nicknames/symbols too.

[The Drunk Guy]

Excellent story! And makes perfect sense if I read Andrew Jackson right!

There has got to be an equally oddball explanation for the elephant and the Grand Old Party nicknames/symbols too.
Call it an educated guess, but I would claim that the elephant was chosen as a symbol of strength and solidarity at a time of national fragility. The "Old" in the GOP would seem to attempt to evoke a timeless message of tradition that ignorant voters so love.

Personally, I think the elephant means that when the Republicans take a shit, everyone has to step in it.:rolleyes:

[Michael]

And what of the nickname "Grand Old Party"?

The nickname of the Republican Party didn't get attached to it until 1888. Previously, the nickname had been used by Southern Democrats. After the Republicans won back the Presidency and Congress for the first time since the Grant administration, the Chicago Tribune proclaimed: "Let us be thankful that under the rule of the Grand Old Party ... these United States will resume the onward and upward march which the election of Grover Cleveland in 1884 partially arrested."

Source (http://www.ushistory.org/gop/origins.htm)

The traditional mascot of the party is the elephant. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)#Name_and_symbols)

That's the best I could find on the topic.

[The Sister]

The Republicans stole the nickname from the Democrats - now that makes sense to me - the 'Grand Old Party' just sounds like Southern Gentlemen to me and it didn't make sense a young party from the north would call itself both grand and old :ummm:

Good find! Thanks.