Introductions and Definitions

This chapter takes a brief look at the history of the intersection of political scandal and pop culture starting with the editorial cartoon era, with particular note of Grover Cleveland and the work of Thomas Nast. A definition of pop culture that focuses on transmission of an idea or symbol to a large audience via a contemporary mechanism is followed by a definition of scandal that dismisses ordinary corrupt behavior from the more narrow construction of scandal used to focus the discussion in subsequent chapters.