Thomas Nast vs. Haddon Sundblom

Yup, Coke had the final say; which is why Santa wears the company colors.

But for quite a while the American visuals were set by the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas aka The Night Before Christmas, and the illustrations by Thomas Nast.

Now given that Nast was a political cartoonist who fought Trusts and helped bring down Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall Machine ( see The Gangs of New York for an appearance by Boss Tweed,) I can only imagine that Nast's Santa Clause would whale the tar out of Sundblom's Coke swiggin' rival.

Now to further muddy the waters, it appears that Clement Moore took belated credit for another Knickerbocker poet's work which was published anonymously. Textual analysts say that there is no similarity between Moore's other writings and the anonymous author of Visit.

Dante