Horace Greeley

(1811–1872) Horace began his career as a printer's apprentice at the age of fourteen. After working for several newspapers, he founded the New York Tribune, a city newspaper which was highly regarded for its in depth stories and excellent writing. By 1860 its circulation had reached almost 288,000, and Horace enjoyed a national reputation as political savant, social crusader, moralist, and eccentric.

The paper supported the Whig party and was emphatically anti-slavery. It shaped public opinion at the time. Horace was involved in Whig politics but was disappointed when they failed to support nominating him for office. He ran for president of the US as a "new liberal" Republican candidate but lost to US Grant. He died before the electoral college met; with a change in politics and society as well as a shift in how he was perceived by the public. At one point he was so abused that he was asked whether he was running for the presidency or the penitentiary. Horace's saying "Go West Young Man" is well known.