Kenneth C. Davis's Blog, page 99

“It’s the economy, stupid.” Maybe not.

Former President Martin Van Buren (Photo Courtesy of Library of Congress)

 

Poor old Martin Van Buren, the eighth president –and the first born an American citizen– was also the first incumbent done in by a terrible economy. As I write for CNN.com,

America’s eighth president, Martin Van Buren, had the misfortune of occupying the White House during the Panic of 1837, one of the nation’s first and most severe economic downturns. Cast as “Martin Van Ruin” and attacked for his “lavish” White House expenditures and dandified style, Van Buren lost overwhelmingly in 1840 to William Henry Harrison by 234-60 electoral votes.

 

In this piece for CNN.com “Economy not key to incumbent winning” I  explain how it is not always a simple question of pocketbook politics.

 

Don’t Know Much About® the American Presidents-now available in hardcover and eBook and audiobook

Don’t Know Much About® John Adams

The history of our Revolution will be one continued lie from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin’s electrical rod smote the earth and out sprang General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod— and thenceforward these two conducted all the policies, negotiations, legislatures, and war.

—John Adams

Letter to Benjamin Rush, April 4, 1790

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John Adams Birthplace (Source: John Adams Historical Society)

Born today, October 30, 1735, the second president, John Adams.

Pity poor John Adams. When he wrote that slightly miffed, nose out-of- joint letter to his old friend and fellow Declaration- signer Dr. Benjamin Rush, he must have known he would play second fiddle to some of his contemporaries.

As lawyer, statesman, political theorist, and rebel leader he deserved better. Although he never led troops into battle, John Adams was one of the principal forces behind the drive for American independence, a fact some of the men who were there in Philadelphia acknowledged. Rush, the progressive Philadelphia physician and early outspoken abolitionist, told a friend, “Every member of Congress in 1776 acknowledged him to be the first man in the House.” Jefferson, with whom he would later have a sharp, ugly falling- out and then a gradual reunion, remembered that Adams was “the colossus of independence.”

He did not participate in the Constitutional debates— he was in En gland as America’s representative in 1787— but he had written a profoundly influential Massachusetts state constitution in 1779 and his earlier political works were also widely read and admired.

But throughout history, Adams always seemed to be pushed to the background— as if his complaint to Dr. Rush were prophetic. When we think Declaration, we think Jefferson. When we think “president,” John Adams is the only one of the first three presidents who is not

carved in stone on Mount Rushmore, and it is hard to find his likeness on any American currency. As America’s first vice president, an office he did not think very highly of, Adams was left out of Washington’s closest circle of advisers. Adams became president in a dawning era of hardball politics in which he would lose ground to more ambitious, and more ruthless, rivals.

Adams was a man of serious convictions and deep principles, a fact he proved as a young attorney when he defended some clients who today might be equated with murderous terrorists, the British soldiers charged in the “Boston Massacre.”

At their defense, Adams said:

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence: nor is the law less stable than the fact; if an assault was made to endanger their lives, the law is clear, they had a right to kill in their own defence; if it was not so severe as to endanger their lives, yet if they were assaulted at all, struck and abused by blows of any sort, by snow-balls, oyster-shells, cinders, clubs, or sticks of any kind; this was a provocation, for which the law reduces the offence of killing, down to manslaughter, in consideration of those passions in our nature, which cannot be eradicated. To your candour and justice I submit the prisoners and their cause.

 

How many Americans would admire such a lawyer today— or elect him president?

Though his presidency was limited to a single term, and he was done in by political rivals, Adams  had revenge of sorts. He named John Marshall Chief Justice of the Supreme Court with long-lasting impact. And he got his own HBO miniseries!

Adams died, like Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

You can find excellent resources about John Adams and his long, extraordinary life. at the National Park Service site of his home,  Boston Massacre Trial Historical Society, the John Adams Historical Society.

And for more on the life and times of the second president, John Adams, read Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents.

 

Don’t Know Much About@ Halloween–The Hidden History

When I was a kid in the early 1960s, the autumn social calendar was highlighted by the Halloween party in our church. In these simpler day, the kids all bobbed for apples and paraded through a spooky “haunted house” in homemade costumes –Daniel Boone replete with coonskin caps for the boys; tiaras and fairy princess wands for the girls. It was safe, secure and innocent.

The irony is that our church was a Congregational church — founded by the Puritans of New England. The same people who brought you the Salem Witch Trials.

Here’s a link to a history of those Witch Trials in 1692.

Rooted in pagan traditions more than 2000 years old, Halloween grew out of a Celtic Druid celebration that marked summer’s end. Called Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sow-een), it combined the Celts’ harvest and New Year festivals, held in late October and early November by people in what is now Ireland, Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe. This ancient Druid rite was tied to the seasonal cycles of life and death — as the last crops were harvested, the final apples picked and livestock brought in for winter stables or slaughter. Contrary to what some modern critics believe, Samhain was not the name of a malevolent Celtic deity but meant, “end of summer.”

The Celts also saw Samhain as a fearful time, when the barrier between the worlds of living and dead broke, and spirits walked the earth, causing mischief. Going door to door, children collected wood for a sacred bonfire that provided light against the growing darkness, and villagers gathered to burn crops in honor of their agricultural gods. During this fiery festival, the Celts wore masks, often made of animal heads and skins, hoping to frighten off wandering spirits. As the celebration ended, families carried home embers from the communal fire to re-light their hearth fires.

Getting the picture? Costumes, “trick or treat” and Jack-o-lanterns all got started more than two thousand years ago at an Irish bonfire.

Christianity took a dim view of these “heathen” rites. Attempting to replace the Druid festival of the dead with a church-approved holiday, the seventh-century Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 as All Saints’ Day to honor saints and martyrs. Then in 1000 AD, the church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to remember the departed and pray for their souls. Together, the three celebrations –All Saints’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls Day– were called Hallowmas, and the night before came to be called All-hallows Evening, eventually shortened to “Halloween.”

And when millions of Irish and other Europeans emigrated to America, they carried along their traditions. The age-old practice of carrying home embers in a hollowed-out turnip still burns strong. In an Irish folk tale, a man named Stingy Jack once escaped the devil with one of these turnip lanterns. When the Irish came to America, Jack’s turnip was exchanged for the more easily carved pumpkin and Stingy Jack’s name lives on in “Jack-o-lantern.”

Halloween, in other words, is deeply rooted in myths –ancient stories that explain the seasons and the mysteries of life and death.

You can read more about ancient myths in the modern world in Don’t Know Much About Mythology

October 30-who said it

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence: nor is the law less stable than the fact; if an assault was made to endanger their lives, the law is clear, they had a right to kill in their own defence; if it was not so severe as to endanger their lives, yet if they were assaulted at all, struck and abused by blows of any sort, by snow-balls, oyster-shells, cinders, clubs, or sticks of any kind; this was a provocation, for which the law reduces the offence of killing, down to manslaughter, in consideration of those passions in our nature, which cannot be eradicated. To your candour and justice I submit the prisoners and their cause.

 

Speech by John Adams at the Boston Massacre Trail (Source:Boston Massacre Historical Society. Accessed October 29, 2012

John Adams was born on October 30, 1735

Don’t Know Much About® the American Presidents- Publishers Weekly *Starred Review

[image error]Publishers Weekly provides a “Starred Review” of Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents

 

In this presidential election year, bestselling author Davis (Don’t Know Much About History) returns with an absorbing take on the American presidency. Like his previous works, this hefty but breezy compendium offers brief assessments of America’s chief executives, accompanied here by quotes (often clipped from inauguration speeches), a timeline featuring key moments of their life and term(s) as president, and miscellaneous trivia about each commander-in-chief, concluding with a “final judgment” of their legacy complete with a letter grade. Of course some presidents (e.g., Washington, Lincoln, and FDR) get more in-depth coverage than others. (e.g., William Henry Harrison, Grover Cleveland) and Davis, not one to mince words writes in his assessment of Franklin Pierce: “Good looks, breeding, brains and piety do not a good president make.” Davis’s bipartisan analysis offers a refreshingly agnostic look at the fumbles, foibles and victories large and small that make up a presidential term. Loaded with dishy trivia (Gerald Ford was a male model, FDR tried to have “In God We Trust” removed from currency) and succinct analysis of pivotal events like Watergate, the election of Lincoln (“he most momentous [election] in American history”) and America’s involvement in WWI, Davis remains a highly informed, observant student of history eager to share his discoveries and knowledge.

Don’t Know Much About® the Cotton Gin: A TED-Ed Lesson

I am very excited to introduce my first contribution to Ted-Ed: “Lessons Worth Sharing.”

This is a relatively new venture that aims to bring interesting and exciting animated lessons to classrooms around the world and was created by the people who brought you the TED Conferences “Ideas Worth Spreading.”

Invented in 1793, the cotton gin changed history for good and bad. By allowing one field hand to do the work of 10, it powered a new industry that brought wealth and power to the American South — but, tragically, it also multiplied and prolonged the use of slave labor.  In this video, I discuss  innovation, while warning of unintended consequences.

 

Who Said It 10/23

History will teach us …that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.

 

“Publius” (Alexander Hamilton) in Federalist Number One published October 27, 1787

Who Said It-10/15/12

Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right- not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this Hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world.

John F. Kennedy. Address to the American People on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba, October 22, 1962 (Source: John F. Kennedy Library and Presidential Museum)

Don’t Know Much About® Presidential Debates

 

The first of three presidential debates gave American plenty to talk about. The New York Times was not impressed, calling the 90-minute debate

an unenlightening recitation of tired talking points and mendacity.

Will the debate, in which President Obama’s performance was widely criticized, really impact the outcome of the 2012 election?

History says few single debates ever alter the outcome of a presidential race. But both men have time to brush up on their history and learn from some of the dos and don’ts in my article “Eight Lessons for the presidential debates,”  which appeared in Smithsonian.com

 

 

 

Who Said It 10-8-2012

 

Eleanor Roosevelt “My Day,” August 13, 1943 The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project

Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884.