THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT PRESIDENTS AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS AND HOW THEIR FRIENDSHIP INFLUENCED AMERICAN HISTORY.
***Keeping with current scholarship, the author says that Madison was Jefferson's equal so that Madison was not subservient to Jefferson. Maybe so. I wouldn't know. He talks about the famous dinner with Hamilton in which it was decided that Madison and Jefferson would agree to Hamilton's plan to fund the war debt and that the former would back a Southern location for the new Capital. What the author does not say is that Jefferson regretted that agreement for the rest of his life. Neither does the author talk about how Madison went from being a nationalist to a states righter or how the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions lent ammunition to the secessionists cause come Civil War time.
•••FRANKLIN PIERCE AND NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE LONG FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN PIERCE AND HAWTHORNE. IT STARTS EARLY AND CONTINUED TO THE END OF THEIR LIVES. BOTH SUPPORTED SLAVERY IN THE INTEREST OF SAVING THE COUNTRY FROM CIVIL WAR. HAWTHORNE WROTE PIERCE'S LOWING CAMPAIGN BIOGRAPHY. THE AUTHOR ALL BUT BLAMES PIERCE FOR THE WAR. HIS ACTIONS PRETTY MUCH GUARANTEED WAR ACCORDING TO THE AUTHOR.
***ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND JOSHUA SPEED. ON JANURY 1, 1841 LINCOLN BROKE OFF HIS ENGAGEMENT WITH MARY AND SPEED TOLD LINCOLN HE WAS MOVING BACK TO KENTURKCY. LINCOLN'S FRIENDS THOUGHT HE MIGHT BE SUICIDAL. SPEED GOT HIM THRU IT.
Speed helped Lincoln survive a crippling depression in 1861. Later they worked together to save the Union as Speed helped Lincoln keep Kentucky from seceding.
Lincoln and Speed drew apart after Speed moved back to Kentucky but they came back together in the 1850's when slavery politics wound up.
In 1854 when Lincoln and Speed began to correspond again Speed was a slave holding Unionist. Lincoln made it clear to Speed that he abhorred slavery and it you were against the spread of slavery you should not hold human property in your own hands.
Writing to Speed in 1855, Lincoln says, "People say I am an abolitionist. . . . but I do no more than oppose the extension of slavery."
As the 1860 presidential election approached, Speed evidently remained a Democrat. He did not vote for Lincoln. I find this amazing. Best friends yet opposed politically.
Kentucky was the linchpin of Lincoln's strategy to keep the four border states in the Union as it was the major staging place to launch military moves into the Confederacy. The legislature was anti-slavery but the governor was pro-slavery. Kentucky was the ballgame due to its strategic location and pro/anti slavery politics in the state.
Speed came to Washington as a back-stage operator for Lincoln to keep Kentucky in the Union after turning down a Cabinet offer. Amazing stuff.
In issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln came around to the view that ending slavery was necessary to save the Union. Speed disagreed, sticking to the view that that emancipation was strictly the work of the states, but gradually toward the end of his life, Speed to moved to more progressive views.
Speed died in 1882 at the age of 68 only a slightly reformed Southerner.
***The rise of Colonel House in Woodrow Wilson's life is amazing and the impact of this unelected unofficial man is unbelievable. The control and access he had to President Wilson is hard to fathom. He was not a real Colonel. It was only a nickname he picked up in his native Texas. He must have had enemies but the author doesn't say much about the people who did not like the Colonel.
So far Colonel House is the most fascinating person in this narrative.
The Wilson-House story is amazing. They broke up over the Paris peace negotiations at the end of the war. The part that Edith Wilson played in the breakup will never entirely be know except that she did not like House and tried to break them up from the beginning.
It is truly amazing how this unelected man played such a big part in the Wilson Administration on the world stage mostly behind the scenes.
***Unassuming and overloaded in her lifetime, Daisy Suckley was in reality Franklin Roosevelt's most trusteed friend and confidant, the respite for a lonely and overworked president navigating the depression and World War II.
The most fascinating thing is in the mind of Franklin Roosevelt. Why did he need a woman like Daisy? Something about his psychological makeup no doubt would explain it.
The friendship between the two of them defies explanation. Daisy lived until 1991. Amazing story.
***Harry Truman met Eddie Jacobson while working as a clerk at the National Bank of Commerce in Kansas City at a young age,
The power of happenstance in their meeting at that bank in Kansas City.
The author says that Truman was man of contradictions. He made racial slurs yet did much for civil rights. He recognized the state of Israel helped by Jacobson. Their friendship spanned over 50 years including military serve in WWI.
The youthful Truman yearned for praise and attention. He was self-conscious about his thick glasses. He seemed to have feminine side to his personality.
Truman's first foray into politics was as a page at the 1900 Democratic National Convention held in Kansas City.
Truman knew about physical labor and knew how to use his hands.
Having by necessity to return home and manage the family farm, Truman forever called himself a farmer. He performed grueling farm work for eleven years. Jacobson with family faced religious persecution after moving around the family settled in Kansas City,
Truman likely would have remained a farmer the rest of his life unless the US had not gotten involved in WWI. Truman enlisted and did Eddie Jacobson and the two of them reunited in the same Missouri Second Field Artillery.
Jacobson was key in helping Truman recognize Israel in 1947. He persuaded Truman to support a UN resolution that created Jewish and Arab spaces that led to the creation of Israel when at first Truman was totally opposed. Truman had routine antisemitic feelings common for his time and place. The creation of Israel was a complicated situation post-WWII. George Marshall was opposed but did not oppose Truman's decision publicly.
***JFK's good friend was David Ormsby-Gore, well-known highly visible Brit.
Ormsby-Gore was close to the Kennedy family. He helped JFK stand up to Krushhev in the Cuban missile crisis yet show patience in allowing K to turn his ships around to avert war. O-G was also instrumental in getting JFK to achieve a partial test ban treaty with the Soviet Union.
***After Bill Clinton lost his gubernatorial bid for reelection in Arkansas and he totally at lost for what to do as he considered leaving politics Vernon Jordan called Hillary and asked, "You got any grits down there?" Hillary responded that she would get some. Vernon visited and pep talked Bill into staying in politics. He was elected governor again, and the rest is history. This author seems to credit Jordan for saving Clinton's career from the outset after he lost reelection after being elected as the youngest governor in American history.
Jordan was a civil rights leader into his late 80's. He knew everybody. He could have had a cabinet position. He was known in corporate America. He was a high-priced corporate lawyer. Yet he could relate to everybody and never forgot his Georgia roots. He was known to have President Clinton's ear. He had quite an accomplished life.
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