Cook arrived in New York on September 21, 1909 and was given a
hero’s reception.
A hundred-thousand people lined a parade route that culminated with a
grand
canvas arch.  The
next day he was given a monster dinner by the
Arctic Club at the Waldorf Astoria and
a few nights later delivered
his first public lecture at Carnegie Hall.
Meanwhile, Peary
continued to heap doubt about Cook’s truthfulness from Nova
Scota. Initially
Cook was the public’s favorite because of his modest and
gentlemanly demeanor
in the face of these bitter attacks that made Peary seem nothing more
than
a very poor loser, but before long a skillful press campaign mounted by
Peary’s
backers began to undermine Cook’s credibility. |
