Irish Protest Cartoonist’s Nomination For NJ Hall of Fame

Some New Jerseyans want a political cartoonist who created the images of Santa Claus and Uncle Sam scratched from New Jersey Hall of Fame’s nominees because he also drew unflattering caricatures of the Irish.

Thomas Nast, who died in 1902, is one of 50 nominees to the state Hall of Fame, which already includes Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra and Jack Nicholson.

Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, who is Irish-American, and the Ancient Order of Hibernians say Nast’s name should be erased from consideration because of two derogatory cartoons he completed in the 19th century.

One from 1871, called “The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things,” depicts a drunken Irishman lighting a powder keg.

Hall of Fame spokesman Don Jay Smith says residents decide who gets in.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)