Confronting the Presidents: No Spin Assessments from Washington to Biden

by Bill O'Reilly

But who are these people, really? The answer to that seemingly simple question is the quest of this book. And the answer is complicated because so many different circumstances are involved.

Thus, our history book series switches from the “killing” concept to the “confronting” arena. But the style is the same. No fussing around, right to the point. Different eras, strange occurrences, dubious behavior. These will be vividly chronicled as we assess the leaders who made the United States what it is today.

After the Revolutionary War, some Americans wanted George Washington to be king. There was a strong movement encouraging that. But the general himself said no. He would serve as president under a system of checks and balances devised by the Founding Fathers.

American history is fading somewhat in the nation’s classrooms. This is dangerous because failing to understand your country can stimulate poor decision-making and personal failure. All of us should seek the truth. It is our mandate as a free people to do that.

“In the first I was obliged to buy corn and this year have none to sell, and my wheat is so bad I cannot neither eat it myself nor sell it to others, and tobacco I make none. Those who owe me money cannot or will not pay it.”

As a result, Washington’s mother believes she is poor and that it is George’s fault.

February 4, 1789, by the Electoral College.

George and Martha but also to seven members of their enslaved household staff, who dress in uniforms of red and white—the Washington family colors.

residence is open to the public during certain days and times each week.

In New York, she must dress formally every day and play a prominent role in the local community—both of which she despises. Martha Washington strongly opposed George’s return to public life following the Revolutionary War.

wife’s inheritance from her first marriage brought hundreds of slaves and seventeen thousand acres of land into the marriage.

Washington repeats the simple thirty-five-word oath of office outlined in the Constitution, in which he promises to perform his presidential duties and defend that document. Afterward, Washington raises the Bible to his lips, kissing the holy book. Livingston cries out to the crowd, “Long live George Washington, president of the United States.”

The reason the new president stumbles over the speech is that he has only one tooth of his own. The rest of his dentures are made up of animal teeth, the bicuspids of other humans, and ivory. This makes it very difficult for him to chew hard food, let alone give a public speech.

He makes do by serving as stepfather to Martha’s two children from a previous marriage—though his preference for corporal punishment as a form of discipline clashes with his wife’s more maternal approach to parenting.

This bickering “cabinet” of four politicians includes Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.

Jefferson and Hamilton, in particular, loathe each other. At issue is whether the federal government should be a strong central power, as Hamilton believes, or if the states should wield the most strength, as in Jefferson’s point of view. This debate will continue for generations to come.

Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton is the man charged with fixing America’s debt problem.

And so begins the first true challenge to federal authority in America. At stake is the future of the national government—and the presidency.

breakfast of corn cakes and three cups of tea. He drinks that beverage throughout the day.

Thomas Jefferson abruptly resigns as secretary of state in protest over Washington’s refusal to aid the French cause.

The power of a strong central government is affirmed.

But his second four years are marked by increasing press criticism and divisive infighting.

After eight years as vice president, a job he calls “the most insignificant that ever the imagination of man contrived,” John Adams will be elected to replace him.

His successor will be hard-pressed to make the same claim.6

“Ought a convicted adulteress and her paramour be placed in the highest office of this free and Christian country?” wrote one newspaper.

exuberant, a condition heightened by the strong drink many in the crowd have been consuming since sunrise. When the general steps out

crushed Jackson blames John Quincy Adams for her death, charging that the former president and his supporters defamed Rachel during the 1828 campaign, calling her a bigamist. Adams

The boy also suffers from a condition known as hypersalivation, which causes him embarrassing episodes of drooling.

In 1776, a nine-year-old Jackson is called on to read the Declaration of Independence to the local community.

Andrew refuses to polish an officer’s boots, the Briton slashes him across the face with his saber. Andrew Jackson will carry the scar the rest of his life.

Andrew also contracts the disease but lives. Elizabeth Jackson, mourning son Robert’s loss, travels to Charleston, South Carolina, to treat Americans being held by the British as prisoners of war. There, she contracts cholera and dies

So, he quits the Senate in 1798, vowing to leave public life forever.

The Jackson marital situation erupts again in 1806, when Nashville attorney Charles Dickinson makes careless remarks about Rachel.

In a duel, Jackson kills Dickinson. But he is hit in the chest by a musket ball, which misses his heart by inches. The projectile will remain lodged there for the rest of Jackson’s life.

Jackson is not kind to the enslaved. One woman is whipped for “putting on airs.” Those caught trying to run away are placed in chains. A public reward for one escapee, a young man named Tom, includes a ten-dollar bonus for anyone inflicting one hundred lashes upon him. In time, slave ownership

His toughness will earn him the nickname “Old Hickory.” Making up rules, Jackson revels in his military duties, executing treaties with Indian nations he has no power to authorize.2

President Jackson brings fourteen slaves to the White House from Hermitage—eight male

Adam, Jesse, Jim, and Emmeline—are younger than nine years old.

Trail of Tears due to the thousands of men, women, and children who die from disease, unsanitary conditions, and exposure to the elements while making the long march to the Oklahoma Territory.

So, Jackson, believing annexation will split his increasingly fractured Democratic Party even further, does not allow Texas into the Union. That is, until his last day in office, when the election of Martin Van Buren to replace him is already secured. Jackson recognizes Texas as an independent republic, although it will not be annexed until 1845.

MARCH

last time a president will be sworn in in March

An eagle cartouche is emblazoned on the podium.1

Chief Usher Ike Hoover, now in his forty-second year at the White House, will note with surprise that no Republicans are present.3

all, a record seventy-seven new laws are passed during the president’s first three months in office.

The First Lady’s office is right next to the president’s bedroom, but she rarely interrupts his day. In the afternoon, FDR takes the elevator downstairs and wheels himself to the Oval Office. He is among the few presidents to not use the Resolute desk, preferring a smaller workspace.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt has always been wealthy.

It seems “Camelot” is well protected by the press.

Patrick, from infant respiratory distress. She and President Kennedy celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary on September 12, just three days ago.

Why England Slept will be published in 1940, selling eighty thousand copies. Ambassador Kennedy’s personal and private relationship with British prime

The pudgy senator even dates JFK’s sisters—first Patricia, Eunice, and then Jean. When