Martin Van Ruin
Martin Van Buren is another president who has not gotten much mention in this blog so far. He was Andrew Jackson's vice-president and was hand-picked by the popular Jackson to succeed him in 1836. This is surprising since the two men had little in common. Jackson was a southerner, a war hero and a man of the people. Van Buren had a reputation as a waffler, aspired to be an aristocrat and was a New Yorker.
Jackson's anti-bank policies backfired on Van Buren leading to the great financial panic of 1837. Van Buren believed that the best government action was inaction and when the second wave hit in 1839, he became known as "Martin Van Ruin" and lost popularity.
According to author Cormac O'Brien, the financial crisis that Van Buren presided over gave him an upset stomach and to treat this he drank a mixture of soot, charcoal and water.
Van Buren came from middle class beginnings, but he aspired to be an aristocrat. His attempts at a lavish lifestyle at a time when the nation was in a depression proved to be his undoing and he lost the election of 1840 to William Henry Harrison. He sought the nomination for the presidency again in 1844 but had a falling out with Andrew Jackson over the question of the annexation of Texas. (Jackson was for it, Van Buren opposed it). He blew his chances for re-election, resulting in the dark horse nomination of James K. Polk.
Martin Van Buren retired to his home in Kinderhook, New York. After being bedridden with a case of pneumonia during the fall of 1861, Martin Van Buren died of bronchial asthma and heart failure at his Lindenwald estate in Kinderhook at 2:00 a.m. on July 24, 1862. He was 79 years old. He is buried in the Kinderhook Cemetery
Jackson's anti-bank policies backfired on Van Buren leading to the great financial panic of 1837. Van Buren believed that the best government action was inaction and when the second wave hit in 1839, he became known as "Martin Van Ruin" and lost popularity.
According to author Cormac O'Brien, the financial crisis that Van Buren presided over gave him an upset stomach and to treat this he drank a mixture of soot, charcoal and water.
Van Buren came from middle class beginnings, but he aspired to be an aristocrat. His attempts at a lavish lifestyle at a time when the nation was in a depression proved to be his undoing and he lost the election of 1840 to William Henry Harrison. He sought the nomination for the presidency again in 1844 but had a falling out with Andrew Jackson over the question of the annexation of Texas. (Jackson was for it, Van Buren opposed it). He blew his chances for re-election, resulting in the dark horse nomination of James K. Polk.
Martin Van Buren retired to his home in Kinderhook, New York. After being bedridden with a case of pneumonia during the fall of 1861, Martin Van Buren died of bronchial asthma and heart failure at his Lindenwald estate in Kinderhook at 2:00 a.m. on July 24, 1862. He was 79 years old. He is buried in the Kinderhook Cemetery