It's On My Mind

October 2, 2019 (Tuesday)
Andrew Jackson disliked the Electoral College concept and wanted to do away with it. Who could blame him? The intricate system caused him to lose the election in 1824 to Adams. He found satisfaction, however, in a rematch with Adams in 1828, with a landslide victory. He was very popular.

Andrew Jackson – President 1829-1837

I visited his beautiful home, the Heritage, in Nashville, Tennessee in 1988. It is in perfect condition, and can be visited by anyone with the price of admission. I shall never forget the stately trees that lined the road in front of the mansion. I could visualize horses and carriages traversing those lanes.The gift shop is interesting. I bought Wanda a very nice collectible doll there, created by a famous local doll maker.

Jackson’s victory over the British in New Orleans in the War of 1812 made him a national hero. He believed in the common man, and people everywhere in the country knew and believed that.
Before becoming president he served in both houses of congress representing the state of Tennessee. Both North and South Carolina claim him as a native son, as he was born in an area claimed by both states. His parents had migrated from Ireland, and his father died before he was born. His mother died when he was 14.

His image has appeared on several bills, and is now on our $20 bill. Ironic, because he did not like paper money. He felt that money should be made of silver or gold. Many people today have urged the government to remove his face from our money because they believe he represented values that are no longer acceptable in our culture. I am purposely leaving out his relationship with Native Americans. Let’s save that for another blog.

Four of the first five presidents were from Virginia. Two of them, from Massachusetts, were father and son. Jackson represented something new and different, roots as an orphan, raised without wealth, champion of the common man, war hero, known as “the people’s president.” Jackson was the first president to invite the public to attend the inauguration ball at the White House, which quickly earned him popularity. The crowd that arrived was so large that furniture and dishes were broken as people jostled one another to get a look at the president. The event earned Jackson the nickname “King Mob.”

He was the first president to be the target of an assassin on January 30, 1835. The attempt failed. Four of our presidents have been assassinated, but attempts have been made on 17 others. This first attempt took place 46 years after the first president was inaugurated.
Much has been written about Andrew Jackson. You might like to take advantage of the wealth of information about him, and study his life. He was truly one of a kind.

October 2, 2019 (Wednesday)
This blog is copied from “America’s Story,” a web site published by the Library of Congress.
Jame Monroe, our 5th president (1817-1825), was born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Virginiam and died on July 4, 1831, in New York, New York
Monroe is perhaps best known for establishing the foreign policy principle that came to bear his name, the Monroe Doctrine. He is also the person for whom Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, was named. Liberia is an African country founded by freed American slaves. Monroe, a slave owner, supported their repatriation (return to their place of origin) to Africa.
Before becoming president, Monroe spent many years in public service, both domestically and overseas, and was the first president to have been a U.S. senator. Although he studied law under Thomas Jefferson, he was not as brilliant as some other leading members of the Revolutionary generation. But his contemporaries liked and admired him for his sensible judgment, his honesty, and his personal kindness. Like his fellow Founding Fathers and fellow Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, he died on July 4, the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the nation’s official birthday.
James Monroe easily won his party’s nomination to run for president in 1816, and he just as easily won the election. His Democratic-Republican Party, which later became simply the Democratic Party, was very strong at the time. The economy was good, the rival Federalist Party was weak and unpopular, and Monroe himself was likable and popular. He was the last of the Founding Fathers to serve as president. Monroe’s presidency followed some 25 years of rivalry between Democratic-Republicans and Federalists, but when he was elected with 183 electoral votes to the Federalists’ 34, it signaled the end of the Federalist Party.
To celebrate his election victory, Monroe launched a 15-week tour through the New England states, the first presidential tour since George Washington’s. Later tours to the South and West put him in touch with more Americans than any previous president. The Boston Columbian Centinel newspaper called his reception in Massachusetts the start of an “era of good feelings.” The era lasted about 5 years.
In James Monroe’s first inaugural speech, delivered March 4, 1817, he referred to the “present happy condition of the United States” and “the happy government under which we live.” om other countries.” His 1817 inauguration was the first to be held outdoors.
Despite a serious recession in 1819, Monroe won a second term as president with no serious opposition. By this time, he had become the most popular president since Washington. Many state banks had failed, however, and dragged small businesses down with them. Unemployment soared. However, at the same time, Monroe was successful in foreign policy.
For example, he sent Gen. Andrew Jackson to the Spanish Florida border to ward off Seminole Indians who were hostile to American settlers. This showed how weak Spain was in Florida and allowed Monroe to pressure Spain to give up the territory in 1819.
In 1819, a time of serious economic problems, President Monroe was faced with another crisis. Missouri was the first state to be carved out of land acquired through the Louisiana Purchase, which Monroe had helped negotiate in 1803. It was on the verge of being admitted to the Union at a time when there were 22 states. Eleven states allowed slavery and 11 did not. There was an argument in the U.S. Congress about whether Missouri should or should not allow slavery.
With the admission of Missouri and Maine to the Union, the number of slave states and nonslave states remained equal at 12 each, which prevented the South from having more representation in the Senate, than the North. In addition, slavery would be forbidden north of the latitude line that runs along the southern Missouri border for the remaining Louisiana Territory. Monroe signed Congress’s bill reflecting the Compromise on March 6, 1820.
In October 1823, President Monroe was concerned about Spain reclaiming sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere. He asked former presidents Jefferson and Madison for advice. They told Monroe to join forces with Britain. However, Monroe’s secretary of state, John Quincy Adams (who would later succeed Monroe as president), had another idea. Adams thought the United States should go it alone. Monroe followed Adams’s advice and laid out an independent course for the United States, declaring four major points in his December 2, 1823, address to Congress. He made four basic statements:

1) The United States would not get involved in European affairs. 2) The United States would not interfere with existing European colonies in the Western Hemisphere. 3) No other nation could form a new colony in the Western Hemisphere. 4) If a European nation tried to control or interfere with a nation in the Western Hemisphere, the United States would view it as a hostile act against this nation.”

In his Monroe Doctrine, he said that the peoples of the West “are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.”
Monroe’s declaration of policy toward Europe did not become known as the Monroe Doctrine until about 30 years after it was proclaimed. In 1823, the U.S. was not powerful enough to enforce Monroe’s proclamation. Outside the United States, the “doctrine” went mostly unnoticed. In the early 1900s, the U.S. emerged as a world power and the Monroe Doctrine became the foundation of U.S. foreign policy.
James Monroe will be remembered as a popular president.

James Monroe – President 1817-1825

Continue reading “A Sermon in Song”

May 12, 2020 (Tuesday)

Harry S. Truman was born May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri, and died December 26, 1972 in Independence, Missouri. The “S” does not stand for anything. It comes from his grandfathers’ names. He was the only president in the 1900s who did not attend college. He married Elizabeth Virginia Wallace and they had one daughter, Margaret. He was 60 years old when he took office and served as president 1945-1953. He was a Democrat. He was Vice President and became President when Franklin Roosevelt died. He is most known for putting an end to World War II in the Pacific by dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. He is also known for the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, and the Korean War.

His motto was “The buck stops here.”

Harry grew up on a farm in Missouri. His family was poor and Harry had to work hard at chores to help out around the farm. He enjoyed music and reading as a child. Every morning he would get up early to practice the piano. His parents didn’t have the money to send him to college, so Harry went to work after high school. He worked a number of different jobs including a railroad timekeeper, a bookkeeper, and a farmer.

In World War I Truman served as an artillery captain in France. Upon returning home, he opened a clothing store, but it failed. Truman then entered politics where he was much more successful. He worked as a judge for many years and then won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1935. He was a senator for ten years when FDR asked him to run as Vice President in 1944. President Roosevelt died shortly after being elected for his fourth term and Truman became president. World War II was still raging at the time, but things were looking up for the Allies. Just a few months later the Germans surrendered, but President Truman still had to deal with the Japanese.

The Japanese had all but been defeated in World War II, except they were refusing to surrender. An invasion of Japan would likely cost hundreds of thousands of American lives (Some said a million). At the same time the United States had just developed a horrible new weapon, the atomic bomb. Truman had to decide whether to invade or use the bomb. In an effort to save the lives of U.S. soldiers he decided to use the bomb.

The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. A few days later they dropped another on Nagasaki. The devastation of these cities was unlike anything ever seen. The Japanese surrendered shortly after.

After World War II there were still many issues that Truman had to deal with. First was the reconstruction of Europe, which was ravaged by the war. He used the Marshall Plan to help European nations rebuild.

Another major post-war issue was the Soviet Union and communism. The Soviet Union had become a major power and wanted to spread communism throughout the world. Truman helped to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with Canada and Western Europe. These countries would help to protect each other from the Soviet Union. This also started the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

The 1948 election against Thomas Dewey was very close. Many people were sure he would lose. One paper, the Chicago Tribune was so sure that their headline read “Dewey Defeats Truman”. Truman won, however. Oops!

With the spread of communism, wars began to break out in other areas of the world. Truman sent U.S. troops to Korea to fight in the Korean War. He also sent aid to Vietnam.

Truman lived a long life after leaving the presidency. He died of pneumonia at the age of 88. His wife, Bess, lived to the age of 97.

Harry S. Truman – President 1945-1952

October 02, 2019 (Wednesday)
* You know already, I’m sure, that our sixth president was the son of the second president. His father, John Adams, was Vice-President when George Washington was President, and was the only one of the first five presidents who was not from Virginia. Like his father, John Quincy Adams was from Massachusetts.
The war for Independence began at Bunker Hill in Boston, Massachusetts. Though the first, third, fourth and fifth presidents were from Virginia, John Quincy Adams’ origins in Massachusetts were strong credentials for his interest in the revolution and the new nation now known as the United States of America. Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, as a small boy he watched the Battle of Bunker Hill June 11, 1775 from the top of Penn’s Hill above the family farm.
He was born on July 11, 1767 in Braintree, Massachusetts, and died on February 23, 1848 in Washington D.C.
Due to his father’s influence, Adams soon became involved in government service. He worked in some capacity with each of the first five presidents. He began his political career as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands under George Washington. He worked as ambassador to Prussia under his father John Adams. For President James Madison he worked as ambassador to Russia and, later, the United Kingdom. While Thomas Jefferson was president, Adams served as the Senator from Massachusetts. Finally, under James Monroe he was Secretary of State.
Adams is considered one of the great Secretaries of State in the history of the United States. He was able to gain the territory of Florida from Spain for $5 million. He also was the main author of the Monroe Doctrine, an important part of U.S. policy that stated the U.S. would defend countries in North and South America from being attacked by European powers. He also helped to negotiate the joint occupation of the Oregon country with Great Britain.
In the early days of the United States, the Secretary of State was generally considered the next in line for the presidency. Adams ran against war hero Andrew Jackson and Congressman Henry Clay. He received fewer votes than Andrew Jackson in the general election. However, since no candidate received a majority of votes, the House of Representatives had to vote on who would be president. Adams won the vote in the House. (When he later ran for re-election, Jackson defeated him).
Adams had difficulty persuading Congress to endorse his ideas for legislation. After he left office, he was elected as a U.S. representative. He is the only president to be a Congressman after being president. He served in the House for 18 years, fighting hard against slavery. He first argued against the “gag” rule, which said slavery could not be discussed in congress. After getting the “gag” rule repealed, he began to argue against slavery.
He married Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams in London, England. They had three sons, George, John and Charles. Adams was married in 1797, on the eve of his departure for Berlin. Adams had first met her when he was 12 years old and his father was minister to France. Though fragile in health, she proved to be a gracious hostess who played the harp and was learned in Greek, French, and English literature. Accompanying her husband on his various missions in Europe, she came to be regarded as one of the most-traveled women of her time.
Although somewhat ineffective as a president, John Quincy Adams distinguished himself in government service throughout his life.

John Quincy Adams – President 1825-1829

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* (175 years would go by before we would have a president whose father had been president before him. George W. Bush’s father, George Herbert Walker Bush had been Vice President under Ronald Reagan and President 1989-1983. They are affectionately nicknamed “Bush41” and “Bush43”.
The grandson ([Benjamin Harrison) of a president (William H. Harrison) would become a one-term president in 1889).
As far as I know, John Quincy Adams and his father had no nicknames associated with their being father and son; his nickname, however, was “Old Man Eloquent.”
Click here for all the nicknames of the presidents.