Book Review: William Henry Harrison
On the weekend I finished reading Gail Collins' biography of William Henry Harrison, part of the American Presidents Series. The author is tasked with writing a biography of the President with the briefest time in office and she ably meets the challenge despite a paucity of material.
William Henry Harrison was president only for 31 days (from March 4th to April 4th, 1841) and he was sick for much of that time. It would be difficult for any author, even in a 125 page book (within the norm for the American Presidents Series) to garner enough material from such a brief time in office. Collins takes us through her subject's sixty-eight years, first as the son of a founding father (his father Benjamin was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and nicknamed "the Signer"), then as an 18 year old soldier whose career led him to numerous encounters with Indian tribes in the Indiana Territory, to becoming Governor of the Indiana Territory, then a General in the War of 1812, through a term in congress, and ultimately a politician on the national stage. We are told about Harrison's two campaigns for President, first in 1836 as part of a flawed Whig Party strategy to run several candidates against a strong Democratic opponent Martin Van Buren (Harrison had the best showing of all Whig candidates) and then as the winner of the very interesting and innovative campaign for the Presidency in 1840. Ms. Collins not only writes a wonderful description of this campaign, including the jingles and songs of the day, but points out how it resulted in a voter turnout of over 80%, a feat not repeated since. The chapters of the book about this campaign make for wonderful reading.
The author also gives the reader a clear picture of the personality of her subject. Despite the fact that she portrays a positive picture of Harrison, it is not a sycophantic or fawning description. We come away with a picture of Harrison as a devoted family man, not only for his wife Anna and their nine children who lived past infancy, but as the supporter of the children of other relatives who lost parents, and later as the supporter of the offspring of those of his children who predeceased him. He is portrayed as a commander who is brave in battle, egalitarian towards his men, applying the same standards to himself that he expects of them. As a General he makes mistakes, but the charges of cowardice which will later be made against him in the heat of the campaign are clearly undeserved. He is portrayed as a sensible governor, and as a congressman concerned with the welfare of old soldiers. In all of his dealings he is presented as being polite, personable and likeable.
Harrison the candidate is portrayed as subservient, believing that the President must be respectful of the will of Congress, who are after all the representatives of the people. Harrison vows never to veto legislation unless it violates the constitution or tramples on the rights of a minority. To Harrison though, minority means slaveholders, not slaves. He claims to be personally opposed to slavery (while being a slaveholder) but supports the institution of slavery so long as it remains a constitutional right. His relationship with Whig leader Henry Clay is interesting. Having defeated Clay for the nomination for President in 1840, he mends his fences with Clay once Clay believes that Harrison will be a weak President. But when Clay tries to impose his choices for cabinet and other offices on the new President, he finds Harrison to be made of sterner stuff.
Collins gives a nice description of Harrison's brief time in Washington as President: his battle with the incessant demands of office seekers, how he related with cabinet and how he likely would have governed if he had lived longer. Collins concludes that Harrison likely wouldn't have made a difference in the path that the nation was taking. From what we learn of Harrison, he was a good man, though not above playing politics to get elected.
This is a wonderful window on the man and the times that he lived in. The brief time it takes to read this book is time well spent for anyone with an interest in American history. I give it four stars out of five.
William Henry Harrison was president only for 31 days (from March 4th to April 4th, 1841) and he was sick for much of that time. It would be difficult for any author, even in a 125 page book (within the norm for the American Presidents Series) to garner enough material from such a brief time in office. Collins takes us through her subject's sixty-eight years, first as the son of a founding father (his father Benjamin was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and nicknamed "the Signer"), then as an 18 year old soldier whose career led him to numerous encounters with Indian tribes in the Indiana Territory, to becoming Governor of the Indiana Territory, then a General in the War of 1812, through a term in congress, and ultimately a politician on the national stage. We are told about Harrison's two campaigns for President, first in 1836 as part of a flawed Whig Party strategy to run several candidates against a strong Democratic opponent Martin Van Buren (Harrison had the best showing of all Whig candidates) and then as the winner of the very interesting and innovative campaign for the Presidency in 1840. Ms. Collins not only writes a wonderful description of this campaign, including the jingles and songs of the day, but points out how it resulted in a voter turnout of over 80%, a feat not repeated since. The chapters of the book about this campaign make for wonderful reading.
The author also gives the reader a clear picture of the personality of her subject. Despite the fact that she portrays a positive picture of Harrison, it is not a sycophantic or fawning description. We come away with a picture of Harrison as a devoted family man, not only for his wife Anna and their nine children who lived past infancy, but as the supporter of the children of other relatives who lost parents, and later as the supporter of the offspring of those of his children who predeceased him. He is portrayed as a commander who is brave in battle, egalitarian towards his men, applying the same standards to himself that he expects of them. As a General he makes mistakes, but the charges of cowardice which will later be made against him in the heat of the campaign are clearly undeserved. He is portrayed as a sensible governor, and as a congressman concerned with the welfare of old soldiers. In all of his dealings he is presented as being polite, personable and likeable.
Harrison the candidate is portrayed as subservient, believing that the President must be respectful of the will of Congress, who are after all the representatives of the people. Harrison vows never to veto legislation unless it violates the constitution or tramples on the rights of a minority. To Harrison though, minority means slaveholders, not slaves. He claims to be personally opposed to slavery (while being a slaveholder) but supports the institution of slavery so long as it remains a constitutional right. His relationship with Whig leader Henry Clay is interesting. Having defeated Clay for the nomination for President in 1840, he mends his fences with Clay once Clay believes that Harrison will be a weak President. But when Clay tries to impose his choices for cabinet and other offices on the new President, he finds Harrison to be made of sterner stuff.
Collins gives a nice description of Harrison's brief time in Washington as President: his battle with the incessant demands of office seekers, how he related with cabinet and how he likely would have governed if he had lived longer. Collins concludes that Harrison likely wouldn't have made a difference in the path that the nation was taking. From what we learn of Harrison, he was a good man, though not above playing politics to get elected.
This is a wonderful window on the man and the times that he lived in. The brief time it takes to read this book is time well spent for anyone with an interest in American history. I give it four stars out of five.