Posts Tagged ‘US Presidents’


Martin Van Buren … #8

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One of the things that happens when you read biographies of all the presidents is that you read about vaguely boring Presidents like Martin Van Buren. (For a less boring taken on Van Buren, here’s Seinfeld and “the Van Buren Boys.”) But he did some interesting things, usually not while President though, as his administration was crippled by the Panic of 1837, the worst economic crisis until the Great Depression, at a time when no one had invented the tools for a government to address them. He was very much the founder of the modern political party system. He was Read more…

Old Hickory

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My Presidential reading list got waylaid for a little while last year with Andrew Jackson and American Lion. This book sat on my nightstand for too long, but I finally finished it over the weekend. President’s Day weekend no less! So. Andrew Jackson. Old Hickory. Generally, I enjoyed the read, but Jackson didn’t jump out at me as I would have thought. His story before becoming President is fascinating. Born from truly humble origins (no one is 100% sure which state he was actually born in, it was that humble), courageous as a boy during the Revolutionary War when he Read more…

James Monroe | The White House

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via whitehouse.gov James Monroe was the last of the Virginian Presidents who were 4 out of first 5 presidents. He was also the last President to have fought in the Revolutionary War. Mostly, we remember Monroe now for the Monroe Doctrine, which asserted that no other power could interfere in the American hemisphere, and for dying on the 4th of July. But the biggest thing that happened during his tenure as president was the Missouri Compromise. (Historical and very short background: Missouri wanted to be a slave state, but free states were worried about the expanding influence they had in Read more…

James Madison

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via whitehouse.gov I read a short biography of Madison, our fourth president, in my Presidential reading series. The book is from the American President series, which was also the series I chose for George H.W. Bush. I suspect it will be the only option when I get to presidents like Taylor and Polk. This one was interesting because it was the first biography of a President I’ve read that was pretty down on him. Madison was the “father of the constitution” and his significance as a Founding Father is pretty high. But that doesn’t guaranteed he’d be a good President. Read more…

Thomas Jefferson and the stain of slavery

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My opinion of Jefferson has changed dramatically since I started this reading project. I have read a lot of Jefferson's work, and read a lot about him. But one of the big questions about his character goes something like this: "How is it that the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence had slaves?" I've often encountered that question, but the Alexander Hamilton biography made me go much deeper than that. Here's why. Economic hypocrisy In order to create the US, the evil of slavery had to be overlooked. It was swept under the rug and as far as politics Read more…

Alexander Hamilton

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My Presidential reading list took a detour with the inclusion of Alexander Hamilton. After several of the biographies (Adams and Washington especially), it became clear that Hamilton and Ben Franklin were incredible forces in their own right and deserved to be included with my reading list. But the Hamilton Biography was so long. Ron Chernow wrote a 700-some-odd page book about a man whose never saw 50. It was good, quite good at times. But long. I started in April, I think, and just finished this weekend (there were, of course, plenty of other books in there as well). So. Read more…

It’s all about the Hamiltons

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via youtube.com I hadn’t seen this one about Hamilton. Thanks Mary M. But there’s a series of videos about historical events narrated by drunk people starring famous people reenacting exactly what the drunk people say. I’m also a fan of this one: Drunk History Vol. 5 w/ Will Ferrell, Don Cheadle & Zooey Deschanel from Will Ferrell

George H. W. Bush

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via whitehouse.gov I finished a short biography of George HW Bush over the weekend (the book I read was by Timothy Naftali and it’s part of the American Presidents series). Bush was the first President in my presidential reading list who didn’t have a wealth of biographies to choose from–my hunch is some of these presidents will get harder and harder to read up on. HW was a major inspiration behind this whole project of mine. After seeing Oliver Stone’s W. (which I didn’t like), I thought Bush Sr. was by far the most interesting character. And Obama referenced him Read more…

Next up in the Presidential series

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I've decided to skip over Jefferson for now. I've already read Hitchens' biography of him in the Eminent Lives series and I will eventually get to American Sphinx. But he features prominently in both the biographies of Washington and Adams and I know he is Madison's mentor, that I think I'll just skip on up to the 4th President and cycle back to Jefferson later.

John Adams

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via whitehouse.gov I was moved by the Adams biography. Having seen the mini-series last year, I enjoyed the re-tread of his life and the greater detail. I thought he was a fascinating man, and his stamp on the country rather large. He nominated George Washington to lead the army (apparently Hancock wanted it); he wrote the Massachusetts constitution, in many ways a preliminary document for our own; he negotiated and won a loan from the Dutch at an incredibly important time to keep the revolution afloat; then negotiated peace with the British; he kept us out of a war with Read more…