Now that I've wrapped up with President Polk, but haven't gotten to Lincoln yet, we've come to the part of the presidential blogs that I like to call *insert echo-y boxing announcer voice here* THE SUMMER OF THE DUNDERHEADS! The next four entries will be about the hapless chaps that not only did not prevent the Civil War from happening, but may have hurried along its arrival a bit.
Twelve American presidents were Generals. In theory, I can understand the logic in voting someone who commanded in army to be Commander in Chief. For George Washington and Andrew Jackson that transition worked out really well. Most were mediocre, and then there were some utter disasters like Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin Pierce. Zachary Taylor, if he had lived long enough to actually do much, seemed to be headed to the Grant and Pierce end of the spectrum.
In 1784 Zachary Taylor was, like so many other presidents, born in Virginia. His family later moved to Louisville, Kentucky. As an adult he grew fond of Louisiana and got property near Baton Rouge. This became his adopted state, and when he ran for president he ran as being from Louisiana. He had quite the frontier upbringing which left very little time for formal education. He could barely read or write.
Most of his career Taylor had no interest whatsoever in politics and didn't even vote. He was a military man. His first commission he got from his cousin, James Madison, in the Indiana Territory. He later fought in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War of 1832, and in the second Seminole War.
His status as a military hero was made nationwide for his role as general during the Mexican-American War. President Polk found him very frustrating and tried to maneuver a way to get in a general that would actually listen to him, but was unsuccessful. My impression of Taylor's personality is very similar to how a sportswriter friend once described Brett Favre: very down to earth and pleasant if you met him in person, but a primadonna egomaniac when it came to his career.
The egomania must have gone to his head because despite never having voted and showing no interest in politics before, in 1848 he ran for president. His tendency to steer clear of the big issues and use folksy language made him quite popular. Sound familiar? It gave me the disturbing image of Zachary Taylor in a red dress and a sparkly flag pin saying "So...how's that whole Manifest Destiny thing workin' out for ya?" He also was a bit of a...ahem...maverick, and wouldn't necessarily follow the party platform of his fellow Whigs. Polk found the whole election agonizing as Taylor get elected pretty much vowing to undo a great deal of what Polk had fought so hard to accomplish.
In Taylor's inauguration speech, despite it being THE issue of the day, he made almost no mention of slavery. As it was such a hot button issue, he hid his own slaves in the attic. Seriously!
James K. Polk died not long into the Taylor administration. Taylor gave a very cold eulogy, and pretty much damned him with faint praise.
The big issue Taylor was working on during his administration was the Compromise of 1850. Pretty much it was to try and settle which of the new territories would allow slavery. He did not live long enough to see any progress on that bill.
During the 4th of July celebration Taylor was having a great time, pigging out on milk and cherries, and other goodies that people brought in to what was pretty much a White House pot luck. Later that day he got terrible stomach cramps and died 5 days later. For decades after that there was some speculation of foul play and theories that he had been poisoned. In 1991 his body was exhumed and it was proved once and for all, he was not assassinated, he just had gastroenteritis...in other words after all those wars it was a tummy ache that did him in.
Taylor's administration was a little over a year, the 3rd shortest of all the American presidents. (Only William Henry Harrison and James Garfield had shorter administrations.) So to be fair...despite my labeling a dunderhead, he didn't have much time to contribute much of anything. Although he DID leave us stuck with Millard Fillmore. More on that later....
Mysteriously, there's not a heck of a lot of pop culture references to Zachary Taylor. So I've opted to go with this classic Animaniacs song.