(Don’t forget him. And yes he counts. Mr. Beat called him the “Oldest Person ever nominated for president” with zero extra qualifiers back in 2015 and he was on a bunch of top 10 lists in that crunchy 2009-2014 era)

  • Coffee Addict@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    3·
    4 months ago

    The Greenback Party had been organized by agricultural interests in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1874 to urge the federal government to inflate the economy through the mass issuance of paper money called greenbacks. Its first national nominating convention was held in Indianapolis in the spring of 1876. Peter Cooper was nominated for president with 352 votes to 119 for three other contenders. The convention nominated Anti-Monopolist Senator Newton Booth of California for vice president. After Booth declined to run, the national committee chose Samuel Fenton Cary as his replacement on the ticket.

    Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but my interpretation of the Greenbacks monetary policy here indicates they were a little ahead of their time. In particular, it looks like they were advocating for some sort of government stimulus to help the economy following the US Civil War, a looser monetary policy in general, and the abandonment of the gold standard.

    • ThatOneKrazyKaptain@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      8·
      4 months ago

      Mr. Cooper specifically was an interesting character. He invented Gelatin mix(and his wife invented the household packaged version which she named Jello), was involved in the SS Great Eastern and the Transatlantic Cable project, invented the anthracite coal smelting system used until the 1950s, invented the steel safety rocking chair, built the first ever steam locomotive in America(the Tom Thumb), founded Cooper Union College in Manhatten and advocated for free higher education(His college was funded by him and his family and was free until the 2014 when the family funds were strained by the Great Recession and they started charging tuition), pushed for ending the gold standard, was anti-slavery, opened an orphanage in New York, was a huge fan of the arts. He started off pretty poor(hatmaker for a bit, thankfully he quit that business before they switched from urine to mercury, then he was a brewer and a cabinet maker), but he invented a new chain system to help move boats through the Erie Canal and got some money from De Witt Clinton and went into a line of glue factories.