Hail to the Chiefs Part VIII: Little Matty Van
Originally written March 1, 2010
When my father was debating about what to do with his retirement, I jokingly suggested he should go for the Middle School Principal position in my school district. He laughed and said "Right! Follow a POPULAR principal!" It's always a tough act following a charismatic larger-than-life leader. Inevitably the poor slob that follows is going to be a disappointment. Just ask John Adams, or George H.W. Bush. Add to that the fact that his predecessor basically dismantled the economy and Martin Van Buren was, as I allegedly told somebody at the reference desk at Carthage.... "pretty much screwed."
Martin Van Buren, born in 1782, was the first president to be born an American citizen, the first not to be of British descent. As you may have guessed, he was Dutch. He was also the first president that would qualify to be one of my students. Dutch was his first language, not English. His home town was Kinderhook, New York. This later resulted in the nickname "Old Kinderhook"...which is often speculated to be the origin of the expression "O.K." I bet you didn't realize you were making a Martin Van Buren reference daily, did you?
The biggest thing to add to Martin Van Buren's ever-lengthening list of firsts was he was the first president to be a career politician. He attended his first party convention at 17. At the time in politics the whole log cabin myth wasn't in style yet. So despite Van Buren's working class origins, (son of a tavern owner)... he tried to portray himself as more sophisticated. In this sense he reminds me a bit of Hyacinth in "Keeping Up Appearances." At his first job Van Buren's boss humiliated him over the state of his homemade wool suit. Van Buren disappeared and returned 2 days later wearing the same suit as his boss. From then on he was quite the clothes horse and got the reputation for being a fop.
He created the first political "machine" in New York. His wheeling and dealings were so successful he earned the nickname "The Little Magician." One of his mentors was the notorious Aaron Burr....but this was BEFORE Burr killed Alexander Hamilton and started concocting treasonous plots. There was an ongoing rumor that Van Buren was actually Burr's illegitimate son.
Van Buren was also one of the architects of the Democratic Party. He took several trips around the country (with the ruse that it was for business, health or family reasons...) to shore up the party. On one trip he went to Monticello, as a sort of pilgrimage, and met Thomas Jefferson.
Van Buren gradually climbed the political ladder from New York State Attorney General to Senator....to being governor of New York juuust long enough to get on Andrew Jackson's cabinet as Secretary of State. Van Buren came Jackson's vice-president during his 2nd term.
In 1837 Van Buren was elected president. He and George H.W. Bush are the only vice-presidents to follow a living president into the Oval Office. His wife was long dead, so he moved in with his 4 sons: Abraham, Martin and John....and Smith. (Apparently he hadn't heard the 60's song and realized the 4th guy should be named Bobby! ;) ) The first year of Van Buren's administration the White House was strictly a bachelor pad as none of Van Buren's sons were married either. Then Dolley Madison set up Abraham with Angelica Singleton....and Matty Van got a daughter-in-law and a White House hostess in one foul swoop.
Unfortunately for Van Buren, 1837 was when everything went to hell in a handbasket. First came the Panic of 1837....which is another way of saying a global recession. The president at that time had even less fiscal tools than today to affect the economy. However, like today, the public has an exaggerated sense on just how much the president can affect the economy....so Van Buren got blamed for it. (If anybody should have been blamed, it should have been Andrew Jackson for dismantling the National Bank!)
The issue of slavery became more prominent during Van Buren's presidency. To add to the complication, Van Buren himself was a slave owner, although usually supported abolitionist policies and his vice president openly was married to a slave. (As opposed to relationships like Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.) The famous Amistad case, where a slave full of African slaves demanded their freedom, happened during Van Buren's administration...and he did not handle it well.
In 1839, founder of the Mormon Church Joseph Smith came to see Van Buren. The governor of Missouri had ordered troops to exterminate or force the expulsion of the over 20,000 Mormon settlers in the state. Smith asked for Van Buren's help. According to Smith's grandson, Van Buren said "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you; if I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri." So much for religious freedom!
By 1840 Van Buren was so unpopular it was not that hard to defeat him. What was frustrating was the Whigs used a lot of the same political tricks HE had invented. His opponent, William Henry Harrison, was portrayed as a log cabin born man of the people, while Van Buren was portrayed as an aristocratic dandy. The irony is William Henry Harrison's background was actually fairly upper class, while Van Buren had spent the better part of his life trying to play down his working class roots. Harrison won, although as we'll talk about later....he didn't last long.
Not one to give up, Van Buren sought the presidential election in 1844. Once again he journeyed around the country. While in Illinois, he spent an evening with Abraham Lincoln. The two stayed up for most of the night telling each other political stories and laughing. The next day Van Buren's sides actually hurt because he'd been laughing so hard the night before. Don't be fooled by those serious pictures of Lincoln from the Civil War...he was a VERY funny guy.
Van Buren didn't win the 1844 election. He lost the presidential election one more time in 1848, this time as a member of the "Free Soil Party." Although he was satisfied that he had won enough votes to take the election AWAY from the Democrats.....who at this point he was pretty mad at.
Van Buren lived long enough to see the beginning of the Civil War. At that point Franklin Pierce called for a gathering of the 5 surviving former presidents. (There would not be this many former presidents alive at the same time again until the Clinton administration.) So Van Buren had the option to affiliate himself with: Franklin Pierce...a man who was in the process of drinking himself to death, Millard Fillmore...asshole extraordinaire, John Tyler...who would soon be elected to the CONFEDERATE administration, in other words, a traitor....and James Buchanan, the dunderhead whose ineptness helped speed up the beginning of the Civil War. Is it any wonder that Van Buren pretty much said "As IF! I'm standing by that funny whippersnapper rather than THAT bunch of losers."
While Van Buren hasn't been portrayed by a muppet as of yet...I did manage to find not one, but TWO references to him in sitcoms. Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch
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When my father was debating about what to do with his retirement, I jokingly suggested he should go for the Middle School Principal position in my school district. He laughed and said "Right! Follow a POPULAR principal!" It's always a tough act following a charismatic larger-than-life leader. Inevitably the poor slob that follows is going to be a disappointment. Just ask John Adams, or George H.W. Bush. Add to that the fact that his predecessor basically dismantled the economy and Martin Van Buren was, as I allegedly told somebody at the reference desk at Carthage.... "pretty much screwed."
Martin Van Buren, born in 1782, was the first president to be born an American citizen, the first not to be of British descent. As you may have guessed, he was Dutch. He was also the first president that would qualify to be one of my students. Dutch was his first language, not English. His home town was Kinderhook, New York. This later resulted in the nickname "Old Kinderhook"...which is often speculated to be the origin of the expression "O.K." I bet you didn't realize you were making a Martin Van Buren reference daily, did you?
The biggest thing to add to Martin Van Buren's ever-lengthening list of firsts was he was the first president to be a career politician. He attended his first party convention at 17. At the time in politics the whole log cabin myth wasn't in style yet. So despite Van Buren's working class origins, (son of a tavern owner)... he tried to portray himself as more sophisticated. In this sense he reminds me a bit of Hyacinth in "Keeping Up Appearances." At his first job Van Buren's boss humiliated him over the state of his homemade wool suit. Van Buren disappeared and returned 2 days later wearing the same suit as his boss. From then on he was quite the clothes horse and got the reputation for being a fop.
He created the first political "machine" in New York. His wheeling and dealings were so successful he earned the nickname "The Little Magician." One of his mentors was the notorious Aaron Burr....but this was BEFORE Burr killed Alexander Hamilton and started concocting treasonous plots. There was an ongoing rumor that Van Buren was actually Burr's illegitimate son.
Van Buren was also one of the architects of the Democratic Party. He took several trips around the country (with the ruse that it was for business, health or family reasons...) to shore up the party. On one trip he went to Monticello, as a sort of pilgrimage, and met Thomas Jefferson.
Van Buren gradually climbed the political ladder from New York State Attorney General to Senator....to being governor of New York juuust long enough to get on Andrew Jackson's cabinet as Secretary of State. Van Buren came Jackson's vice-president during his 2nd term.
In 1837 Van Buren was elected president. He and George H.W. Bush are the only vice-presidents to follow a living president into the Oval Office. His wife was long dead, so he moved in with his 4 sons: Abraham, Martin and John....and Smith. (Apparently he hadn't heard the 60's song and realized the 4th guy should be named Bobby! ;) ) The first year of Van Buren's administration the White House was strictly a bachelor pad as none of Van Buren's sons were married either. Then Dolley Madison set up Abraham with Angelica Singleton....and Matty Van got a daughter-in-law and a White House hostess in one foul swoop.
Unfortunately for Van Buren, 1837 was when everything went to hell in a handbasket. First came the Panic of 1837....which is another way of saying a global recession. The president at that time had even less fiscal tools than today to affect the economy. However, like today, the public has an exaggerated sense on just how much the president can affect the economy....so Van Buren got blamed for it. (If anybody should have been blamed, it should have been Andrew Jackson for dismantling the National Bank!)
The issue of slavery became more prominent during Van Buren's presidency. To add to the complication, Van Buren himself was a slave owner, although usually supported abolitionist policies and his vice president openly was married to a slave. (As opposed to relationships like Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.) The famous Amistad case, where a slave full of African slaves demanded their freedom, happened during Van Buren's administration...and he did not handle it well.
In 1839, founder of the Mormon Church Joseph Smith came to see Van Buren. The governor of Missouri had ordered troops to exterminate or force the expulsion of the over 20,000 Mormon settlers in the state. Smith asked for Van Buren's help. According to Smith's grandson, Van Buren said "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you; if I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri." So much for religious freedom!
By 1840 Van Buren was so unpopular it was not that hard to defeat him. What was frustrating was the Whigs used a lot of the same political tricks HE had invented. His opponent, William Henry Harrison, was portrayed as a log cabin born man of the people, while Van Buren was portrayed as an aristocratic dandy. The irony is William Henry Harrison's background was actually fairly upper class, while Van Buren had spent the better part of his life trying to play down his working class roots. Harrison won, although as we'll talk about later....he didn't last long.
Not one to give up, Van Buren sought the presidential election in 1844. Once again he journeyed around the country. While in Illinois, he spent an evening with Abraham Lincoln. The two stayed up for most of the night telling each other political stories and laughing. The next day Van Buren's sides actually hurt because he'd been laughing so hard the night before. Don't be fooled by those serious pictures of Lincoln from the Civil War...he was a VERY funny guy.
Van Buren didn't win the 1844 election. He lost the presidential election one more time in 1848, this time as a member of the "Free Soil Party." Although he was satisfied that he had won enough votes to take the election AWAY from the Democrats.....who at this point he was pretty mad at.
Van Buren lived long enough to see the beginning of the Civil War. At that point Franklin Pierce called for a gathering of the 5 surviving former presidents. (There would not be this many former presidents alive at the same time again until the Clinton administration.) So Van Buren had the option to affiliate himself with: Franklin Pierce...a man who was in the process of drinking himself to death, Millard Fillmore...asshole extraordinaire, John Tyler...who would soon be elected to the CONFEDERATE administration, in other words, a traitor....and James Buchanan, the dunderhead whose ineptness helped speed up the beginning of the Civil War. Is it any wonder that Van Buren pretty much said "As IF! I'm standing by that funny whippersnapper rather than THAT bunch of losers."
While Van Buren hasn't been portrayed by a muppet as of yet...I did manage to find not one, but TWO references to him in sitcoms. Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch
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