Here are some of the traits of Presidents Polk through Hayes and a look at how I personally see some of their traits.
It’s full steam ahead. With a gusto that would make any war general jealous, Polk would expand our nation from coast to coast, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. It was called Manifest Destiny. He believed God had destined us to be a land from sea to shining sea. So, in just one four year term, he almost doubled the United States land mass. Most of the land was acquired by going to war with Mexico. In fact, our troops got all the way to Mexico City before Mexico relented and Polk ordered the troops back across the Rio Grande River. I, too, believe that God has destined us to be a great nation, but I don’t believe we even need to do it by force. Sometimes I feel like we are more like the Israelites in the Old Testament of the Bible, than a country that really appreciates all God has given us. Because of our constant disobedience, I often worry that God is going to take away our blessing, just like He did with the Israelites.
Taylor was the famous Mexican War general who was the second President to die in office. Taylor spent most of his life on the battlefield. From most of what I have read, Taylor didn’t seem all that concerned about fashion. I don’t think he would have made it on a top ten list of the best dressed Presidents. There is a picture of me when I was a teenager. It is very embarrassing to me today. With my long hair, I am standing proudly next to my Grandmother (my Dad’s Mom) in my striped bell bottom pants with my checkered shirt. I don’t dress as poorly these days; for one thing, my wife wouldn’t let me. But recently I was given a name brand shirt from a vendor, with the vendor’s logo on it. Everyone wanted it. To me it was just another shirt. To them it must have been the “in” brand. I wonder if I should wear it with my bell bottom pants?
Fillmore was that inspirational story of that very poor little boy that rose up through his poverty to rule the greatest nation in the world. Like a lot of Americans of his time, he could not read. Eventually he would learn, but a modest streak would always remind him of those days. His rise to the top happened not by his own election, but by the death of Zachary Taylor. Like John Tyler before him, who also rose to the Presidency on the death of a President, Fillmore never won the Presidency on his own right. Fillmore also didn’t believe in getting things he didn’t deserve. When an honorary degree was offered to him, he would decline it, basically saying, “I will not accept a degree I cannot read.” In a society where it often looks like those who know how to work the system don’t have to work at all, I still believe that one of the most rewarding facets of life is that hard work will lead to better rewards. I also believe there are very few feelings that surpass the one of laying your head on your pillow at night, knowing it is because of your hard work that you could afford one that feels so soft.
With Pierce the streak reaches seven (and would continue to eight on Buchanan’s failed re-election). Pierce became the seventh President in a row that serve one term or less. Failing to get re-elected seemed to have become the norm. For all Pierce’s shortcomings, I believe he has one of the saddest stories of all the Presidents. Pierce’s wife was very upset by his election. Where James K. Polk thought God was guiding his conquest, Pierce’s wife believed that God didn’t want her husband to be President. As Pierce and his family were on their way to Washington DC for his Inauguration the train they were on derailed. His young son was killed. His wife believed it was God’s way of punishing her husband and their family. She would remain depressed and wear black for pretty much the rest of her life. Pierce was very distraught, too. Personally, whenever I see or hear of small children passing away it makes me really sad. Often I will cut out the article or obituary from the paper so I will remember to pray for the family and friends of those close to them because I know it has to be very hard on them.
As James Buchanan became President the feud between the northern and southern states hit its peak. Buchanan came into office with one of the best résumés of any of our Presidents, yet the one thing he probably needed the most, strong leadership abilities, seemed to be lacking. Buchanan tried his best to keep both sides happy and there would lie his biggest problem. Instead of taking a strong stand and keeping the Union together, he was more passive on the real tough issues. By the time Buchanan left office seven states had already left the Union (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) and four more (Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina) would shortly leave after Lincoln was sworn in as his successor. Sometimes I feel I really struggle making those tough calls when hard decisions, right decisions, need to be made, especially when it comes to family matters. For example, when you can’t be two places at one time. It is hard to disappoint those you love. I almost always look for a compromise. Sometimes there are none to be found and my heart aches knowing one side or the other will not like the decision I have made.
Lincoln is another one of those Presidents we love and who has so many great traits. After a string of very weak Presidents, Lincoln stands out as one of the few who was willing to firmly stand his ground and that ground was that the Union must be preserved, no matter what. Lincoln, along with Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and possibly (believe it or not) Richard Nixon, are probably the Presidents that provided us with the most witty and wise quotes. Perhaps my greatest fondness for Lincoln is his ability to tell a humorous story, often at his own expense. To make a point, I often use a story as an illustration and try to hide a little humor in it, too. I’m sure many a person has heard how I get my two hairs wet when it rains or how both of them get messed up when the wind blows. To me, some of the hardest people to talk to are those who take themselves too seriously.
Andrew Johnson was another one of those rags to riches Presidents. His father would die when he was three years old and his mother was forced to work as a lowly washerwoman to support the family. It still wasn’t enough, so his mother farmed out his brother and him to be apprentices. Andrew was just ten years old at the time. An apprentice in those days was a lot different than they are today. In those days an apprentice was more like an indentured servant or even a slave. His sentence to this apprentice program was scheduled to last until he was twenty-one years old. Johnson just couldn’t take it that long, so after about five years, when he was fifteen, he ran away. The apprentice program did make him a pretty good tailor, though. He would try to return to Raleigh and try to buyout his apprenticeship, but his master would have none of it. Fearing arrest or even a long term sentence to serve out his apprenticeship, Johnson would flee and never look back. I believe I take the bad things in my life and use them to make me a better, not bitter, person. It is never easy to go through tough times, but sometimes I believe it can even be harder to let go and move on. Someone could easily argue that it has taken me a long time to get this way and they may be correct. But now that I have arrived I tend to take advantage of those experiences without carrying the heavy baggage often associated with them.
Grant’s life seemed to be one series of failure after another. He would fail in business and in the military one time after another. In fact, when Lincoln appointed him as commander over the whole Union army, many probably questioned Lincoln’s sanity. “Sure Grant had a few victories just before he was promoted to the commander position, but just look at his past,” was probably the opposition’s rally cry. But for all Grant’s successes as general during the Civil War, he still couldn’t resist those too good to be true deals and he would fall over and over again for them. Most acknowledge that while he was President his administration was perhaps one of the most corrupt in our history. When he left office he would again become a victim of bad business decisions. Nearly broke, and dying of cancer, he took a deal to write his memoirs so his wife would have some finances to live out her days. He would die a few days after he finished the final pages. As I was working my way through life, I often felt like my life was one failure after another. It wasn’t for a lack of effort, but just like Grant, I’m sure I could have made a few better decisions along the way.
Hayes is probably best remembered for the highly contested election of 1876. Finger pointing was aimed at both parties in this very corrupt election. Hayes would lose the popular vote to Samuel Tilden by about three percent, yet he would win the Electoral vote by a single vote after a commission awarded him the victory. Hayes was another one of those Civil War generals, although he was promoted to that position toward the end of the War. Hayes was also one of those rare Union people you don’t hear too much about. When the southern states started breaking away, he was one of those shouting, “Well then, just let them go. We will make it fine without them.” Yet when the union went to war with the south, his attitude seem to change and he was all in for restoring the whole Union. Sometimes I can get that real stubborn streak where I think I’m right about something. But my stubbornness doesn’t usually stand much of a chance in the waves of reality. When I come to realize I need to change my ways or my opinions, pride is something that rarely ever holds me back from making that change.
So, there you have it: how I’m like the eleventh through nineteenth Presidents. I will honestly tell you that this is the hardest group of Presidents to find something in common with. Maybe it is because, as a whole, with the exceptions of Lincoln and Polk, many have made a strong argument that this is the weakest batch of Presidents we have had in our history. No one really wants to be compared to someone who is weak. Even though most consider many of these Presidents weak, our country still made it through it despite them. It is through their lives we learn that we, too, must carry on. We must also remember our past and acknowledge that we, too, have not always lived up to our own high standards. We have learned through our trials, experiences, and mistakes.
