Mugwumps

The Mugwumps were Republican political activists who bolted from the United States Republican Party by supporting Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the United States presidential election of 1884. They switched parties because they rejected the financial corruption associated with Republican candidate James G. Blaine. In a close election, the Mugwumps supposedly made the difference in New York state and swung the election to Cleveland. The jocular word mugwump, noted as early as 1832, is from Algonquian (Natick) mugquomp, "important person, kingpin" (from mugumquomp, "war leader") implying that they were "sanctimonious" or "holier-than-thou," in holding themselves aloof from party politics.

After the election, mugwump survived for more than a decade as an epithet for a party bolter in American politics. Many Mugwumps became Democrats or remained independents; most continued to support reform well into the 20th century. During the Third Party System, party loyalty was in high regard and independents were rare. Theodore Roosevelt stunned his upper class New York City friends by supporting Blaine in 1884; by rejecting the Mugwumps he kept alive his Republican party leadership, clearing the way for his own political aspirations.

Mugwump (computer game)

Mugwump is an early video game where the user is tasked with finding four "Mugwumps" that are randomly hidden on a 10x10 grid. It is a text-based game written in BASIC.

Development

Mugwump was written by students of Bud Valenti from Project SOLO in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and then modified by Bob Albrecht of the People's Computer Company. A sample run first appeared in the People's Computer Company Journal Vol. 1 No.3 in February 1973 and source code was published in Vol. 1 No. 4 in April 1973. Source code was again published in Vol. 3 No. 1 in September 1974. Mugwump was later included in the book BASIC Computer Games.

Gameplay

The user enters a pair of single-digit co-ordinates in the range from 0 to 9 which are the x,y coordinates to scan. If a mugwump is at that location then the user is alerted. Otherwise the user is told the distance from the scanned coordinates to each of the mugwumps that are yet to be found. The game ends after ten turns or when all of the mugwumps have been found.

Mugwump (disambiguation)

Mugwumps were a group of Republican activists who supported Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the United States presidential election of 1884.

Mugwump or Mugwumps may also refer to: