In the fall of 1909, American newspaper readers were plunged into confusion and rancor over what should have been an exciting piece of news. An American explorer had emerged from the Arctic, claiming to have reached the North Pole, the first person ever to have achieved the feat! The problem? More than one American man was making the claim.
First, at the beginning of September, came Frederick Cook, whose 2,000-word account of a successful polar mission briefly dazzled the world when it ran exclusively in The New York Herald. Then, a few days later, the revered adventurer Robert Peary, whose own, separate polar expedition had been backed by The New York Times, sent word that the “Stars and Stripes” had been “Nailed to the Pole.” In his account, Peary had been the one to do the figurative nailing.
