First Fathers , livre ebook

F IRST F ATHERS
T HE M EN W HO I NSPIRED O UR P RESIDENTS
H AROLD I. G ULLAN

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2004 by Harold I. Gullan. All rights reserved
Photo Credits: Page 2: Courtesy of Chicago Historical Society; page 19: Courtesy of Belle Grove Plantation; pages 29, 119, 171: Library of Congress; page 50: Courtesy of the Library of Virginia; page 54: Courtesy of Virginia Historical Society; page 67: Courtesy of Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society; page 73: Courtesy of New Hampshire Historical Society; page 85: Courtesy of Abraham Lincoln Library, Lincoln Memorial University; page 101: Courtesy of Ohio Historical Society; page 125: Courtesy of Grover Cleveland Birthplace, New Jersey State Park Service; page 130: Courtesy of Benjamin Harrison Home; page 135: Courtesy of Ram-sayer Research Library, McKinley Museum and National Memorial; page 141: Courtesy of Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University; page 151: Courtesy of William Howard Taft National Historical Site; pages 161, 162: Courtesy of Woodrow Wilson Birthplace and Museum; page 178: Courtesy of Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum; page 188: Courtesy of Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; page 194: Courtesy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library; page 202: Courtesy of Harry S.Truman Library; page 208: Courtesy of Dwight D. Eisenhower Library; page 214: Courtesy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library; page 228: Courtesy of Lyndon Baines Johnson Library; page 235: Courtesy of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace; page 242: Courtesy of Wyoming State Archives; page 244: Courtesy of Gerald R. Ford Library; page 250: Courtesy of Jimmy Carter Library; page 257: Courtesy of Ronald Reagan Library; pages 263, 278: Courtesy of George Bush Library
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ISBN 0-471-46597-6
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the two who inspire me— Betsy and Bill Gullan
C ONTENTS

Acknowledgments

By Way of Introduction

   1    F ATHERS OF F OUNDERS

Augustine Washington • John Adams Sr. • Peter Jefferson James Madison Sr. • Spence Monroe

   2    T HE F IRST L INE

John Adams

   3    D RAMATIC D EPARTURE

Andrew Jackson Sr. • Abraham Van Buren

   4    P ATRIOTS AND P IONEERS

Benjamin Harrison V • John Tyler Sr. • Samuel Polk Richard Taylor • Nathaniel Fillmore • Benjamin Pierce James Buchanan Sr.

   5    S OIL OF G REATNESS

Thomas Lincoln

   6    A MBITION ’ S S TERNER S TUFF

Jacob Johnson • Jesse Root Grant • Rutherford Hayes Jr. Abram Garfield • William Arthur

   7    “T ELL THE T RUTH ”

Richard Falley Cleveland • John Scott Harrison William McKinley Sr.

   8    “O NE M UST L IVE FOR THE L IVING ”

Theodore Roosevelt Sr.

   9    “M Y W ILL I S THE B ETTER M AN ”

Alphonso Taft

10    “Y OU H AVE O NLY TO P ERSEVERE ”

Joseph Ruggles Wilson

11    “I H ATE TO G O A WAY ”

George Tryon Harding II • John Calvin Coolidge Jesse Clark Hoover

12    “M OST G ENEROUS AND K INDLY OF M EN ”

James Roosevelt

13    F ROM THE H EART OF A MERICA

John Anderson Truman • David Jacob Eisenhower

14    “W E D ON ’ T W ANT A NY L OSERS ”

Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr.

15    “A M AN W HO L OVED H IS F ELLOW M AN ”

Sam Ealy Johnson Jr.

16    “H E H EARS THE T RAINS G O B Y ”

Francis Anthony Nixon • Leslie Lynch King Sr. Gerald Rudolph Ford Sr.

17    “W HY N OT THE B EST ?”

James Earl Carter Sr. • John Edward Reagan

18    “D UTY AND S ERVICE ”

Prescott Sheldon Bush

19    “T HE N AME D OESN ’ T M ATTER ”

William Jefferson Blythe III • Roger Clinton

20    “I F Y OU N EED M E , I’ M H ERE ”

George Herbert Walker Bush
I N C ONCLUSION

Some Books Eve Found Helpful

Index
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing may seem a solitary pursuit, but few writers—particularly of nonfiction—work or walk entirely alone. Supplementing the palpable presence of the real people I’ve tried to portray in First Fathers has been the sustained encouragement of a host of those who share my interest in the American experience. Some I’ve had the good fortune to meet. Many more have aided me from afar.
I’m particularly indebted to Barbara Oliver, formerly of the Library of Congress, and her associates; Cathryn Henry and Jeffrey Daniels of the Chicago Historical Society; Ed Presley of Belle Grove Plantation; Dana Angell of the Library of Virginia; Stephanie Jacobs of the Virginia Historical Society; Linda Kennedy of the Buffalo and Erie Historical Society; David Smolen of the New Hampshire Historical Society; Leanne Garland of the Lincoln Memorial University; Kim Bauer of the Illinois Historical Preservation Agency; Duryea Kemp of the Ohio Historical Society; Sharon Farrell (and her technological son, David Farrell) of the Grover Cleveland Birthplace; Jennifer Capps of the President Benjamin Harrison Home; and conscientious Mari Artzner-Wolf at the Ramsayer Research Library of the McKinley Museum and National Memorial.
Also Wallace Dailey of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at the Houghton Library of Harvard University; E. Ray Henderson of the William Howard Taft National Historical Site; gracious Lucinda Cooke and Rick Potter of the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace and Museum; Lu Knox of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum; Christine Moun and Jim Detlefsen of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Lynn Bassanese, Mark Renovitch, and Annmarie Gleeson of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library; Anita Holland and Liz Safly of the Harry’S Truman Library; Kathy Struss of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library; James Hill of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library; Margaret Harmon of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library; Susan Naulty, John Taylor, Greg Cumming, Sandy Quinn, and Arianna Barrios-Lochrie of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace; Carol Barber of the Wyoming State Archives; Nancy Mirshah, Kenneth Hafeli, and William McNitt of the Gerald R. Ford Library; Sheila Mayo, David Stanhope, and Polly Nodine of the Jimmy Carter Library; Kirby Hanson, Erica Jolles, and Josh Tenenbaum of the Ronald Reagan Library; Bonnie Burlbaw, Matthew Lee, Brian Blake, and Rod Thornton of the George Bush Library.
Lewis and Clark had no more reliable associates comprising their Corps of Discovery than I’ve enjoyed at the Saint Joseph’s University Library, my local base of operations. They include director Evelyn Minick, Mary Martinson, Tamara Jackson, Martha Van Auken, Dolores McCaughan, and the incomparable Susan Tsiouris. At the four universities where I’ve taught courses in recent years, I’ve benefited from the generous input of noted scholars of all ages—from Jim Hilty, Randall Miller, and Richard Webster to such future academic stars as the innovative Jeffrey La Monica and the indefatigable Joe Zuggi. In such hands, hopefully, the study of American history may yet be prevented from perishing.
We Gullans are fortuitously situated in a compact community of tall trees, old stone homes, and congenial neighbors. Next door lives Elsa Efran, a steady hand at the tiller, who somehow manages to put my laborious printing into presentable form, guiding it skillfully as she goes along. Her husband, Jay, a psychologist who is also a computer-mastering magician, keeps it all moving. I’ve appreciated the proffered hospitality of many other neighbors, friends, and family—Auritts, Massaris, Boltons, Hoescheles—but writing is just solitary enough to be difficult to stick to amidst such good company. To Carey Rowan and Mike Nunnally go my thanks for helping me to get around in pursuit of the documentation on which this book is based.
Its form and substance have been most influenced by my perceptive, patient, and painstaking editor at Wiley, Hana Lane, her able associate, Mike Thompson, and resourceful production editor John Simko. We were joined together by that resolute repository of good sense, my agent, Ed Knappman.
After my first book, Elsa Efran, only half in jest, suggested distributing T-shirts emblazoned “I survived working with Hal Gullan.” In view of how many years they have survived living with Hal Gullan, perhaps special commendati