American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham

To fulfill my reading quest for the seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, I chose a substantial and more recent text. I was really excited to read about this dynamic president known as Old Hickory. I wanted to hear about his gallantry at New Orleans during the War of 1812 as well as his coercion and cruelties towards Native Americans. For some reason I thought the head title American Lion meant this text would delve into Jackson’s rough temperament. And it does touch on these subjects; however, the subtitle, in the White House, should have told me that this text focuses on the inner life at the White House during his presidency and not as much on pre or post White House events. In fact, much of the information was about Jackson’s family and how it played an important role in his moods and politics. I became bored with his niece, Emily, whose ideas on who was or was not respectable practically lead to the breakup of Jackson’s cabinet. His family life was important to politics but I felt the text lingered on these issues for far too long. I wanted more about the war hero and less about his family. I got hardly a paragraph on the War of 1812 and am disappointed by that. The text does deal fairly about Jackson’s managing of the Indians and I felt satisfied on that point even if it was sort of brief. Jackson’s issues with the U.S. Bank drag on forever as Jackson became consumed with crushing the institution. Jackson did face serious adversaries from within that threatened the Union which he carefully dealt with to avoid (or postpone) civil war. The text shows how Jackson singlehandedly increased the power of the Executive by the force of his will. So, he did exercise shrewdness in these respects.


I think the text would be more accurately called American Father: Jackson in the White House since Meacham constantly refers to him as a father and how Jackson referred to himself as a father to his supporters, extended family and even Native Americans. This bio hardly touched on the aspects that made Jackson a lion. We rarely see him on the attack during his time as president (save the bank issue) but more as a protective father figure. The prose has a tendency to wander. In one paragraph we hear about Emily and her parties and in the next, Clay and Calhoun’s plots to undermine the president. Subjects are not well weaved together. On the other hand, this text does give the reader a look at the intimate life of Jackson during his two terms. It tells us what it was like for family who lived with a president subject to swings of temperament and a need to control his surroundings. Ultimately, I wish I chose a bio that encompassed Jackson’s entire life to get a better view of his lion-like image. I may have to find a text with a chapter or two that focuses on pre-White House Jackson to get my Battle of New Orleans fix.
Publisher: Random House, 2008     Source: IC Public Library
Rating: 2.5 Stars                                          Pages: 361, 483 with acknowledgments, notes and index

John Quincy Adams by Robert V. Remini

After a two year break (mostly because of school), my quest to read biographies/autobiographies of each president in chronological order continues with Prez number 6.

This is the second biography from “The American Presidents” collection I’ve read. They are concise and compact bios with enough substance to be informative without getting into the nitty-gritty details. This makes the series nice for those with general interest who don’t want to commit to a detail oriented (and much thicker) bio. This text was exactly what I was looking for. Having read David McCullough’s excellent biography on John Adams, Sr. (all 752 pages), I felt I knew enough about JQA that I didn’t need minute details of his youth repeated to me. Considering JQA kept lengthy journals nearly all his life, I wish there had been even more quotes from him. Other than that, I’ve no complaints with Remini's text.

John Quincy was a genius in several areas, perhaps most notably language. His command at an early age of languages (including French, German and Latin) gave him a great advantage in foreign countries in which he represented the United States for many years. His skill as a foreign diplomat was a great asset to a country that desperately needed foreign recognition as a sovereign power. There’s much more to this man but I’ll let you read his bio for yourself. =)

As always, reading Presidential bios is a great way to learn about U.S. history, the creation of political parties, early journalism and different interpretations of the Constitution throughout time not to mention what early life in America was like. Bios make two-hundred-year-old history come to life by revealing how those lives were lived. How did Mrs. Adams like the White House? What was family life like for a Presidential dynasty? Did you know JQA swam in the Potomac on a regular basis? Presidents are unique people to say the least and John Quincy was no exception.
Publisher: Times Books/ Holt, 2002      Source: IC Public Library
Rating: 3.5 Stars                                   Pages: 155 (172 to the index)