Nice brief biography of President Martin Van Buren

books:

	• American Presidents: Martin Van Buren Ted Widmer, Arthur M. Schlesinger Times Books, 2005 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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Nice brief biography of President Martin Van Buren

This is one of the books in "The American Presidents" series, focusing on Martin Van Buren. The overall series editor, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., speaks of what is at stake with the presidency, in his series introduction (Page xv): "But a system based on the tripartite separation of powers [executive, legislative, and judiciary] has an inherent tendency toward inertia and stalemate. One of the three branches must take the initiative if the system is to move. The executive branch alone is structurally capable of taking that initiative."

In this book, we learn of the presidency of Martin Van Buren, sometimes called the Red Fox of Kinderhook, after his home town. He began in extremely modest circumstances to work his way up to the top position in American politics.

In the process, he masterminded some major political inventions, such as the party caucus, the national presidential nominating convention, the patronage system, a publicity network, and the Democratic Party itself. Obviously, he did not do these things alone, but he was a key figure in the development of a new political structure and framework, far different from that of the early years of the republic. Indeed, as the book points out, he helped p[popularize the term "OK."

The book describes his rise in politics and his clever political machinations. He hitched his wagon to the political star of Andrew Jackson, and that helped propel his rise. He was also a successful elected politicians, from his years in the New York state political scene. There, he helped form the "Albany Regency," one of the earliest stable political organizations.

He was a Democrat, and also favored a more democratic process. Between 1826 and 1828, according to the author, Van Buren began the process of developing a modern political party. It is ironic that as he ascended the political ladder to attain the presidency, he ran into an economic disaster that doomed his presidency. The book discusses that, although there is not the detail one might wish. He did have some successes, but he ended up a one term president (although he tried another run later on--and failed). Then, the later years in his life are discussed.

For a person who wants a quick literate introduction to Martin Van Buren (derided by some as "Van Van the Washed Up Man" after his defeat in the re-election campaign), this ought to do the trick. A good read. . . .

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A Good Overview

Martin Van Buren, the 8th President, was the first President hailing from New York and the first President of non-English descent. This book briefly covers his life; early years, his rise to political fame, his Presidency and his retirement.

Widmer, does a great job in just 200 pages of giving the reader a sense of who Martin Van Buren was. He also does a great job of making you realize why Martin Van Buren should be remembered and pointing out all the great things he accomplished in the name of democracy, without overselling him and making the reader believe he should go down in history as one of the most important Presidents.

This book is a good read for the regular reader, one who does not normally read non-fiction or biographies. I did not find it too dense and it flowed nicely.

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Succinct and definitive study.

Widmer does a fine job of presenting a tidy picture of an obscure one-term president, his faults and strengths. By covering his Dutch-American ancestry and character, the reader gains a firm grasp of the individual - and understands what shapes his political wisdom, the motivations behind his party politicking, and the vitriol that his enemies bring to bear. I found the text informative, the style engaging and the theme purposeful.

A strong summary

Van Buren had a lengthy and complex career, from his rise in New York politics in the early 19th Century to becoming the first ex-President to be seriously considered for a new term in 1844, until his unpopular opposition to annexing Texas led to the upset nomination and victory of James Polk. In a short book of under 200 pages, Widmer can't discuss all of this in detail. He makes a good decision to focus on Van Buren's work as a political organizer and in large part the founder of the Democratic Party, when he brought together the Northern and Southern factions which had supported Andrew Jackson in 1824 to back his successful return in 1828. He obviously covers, but doesn't really emphasize, Van Buren's single term as President, made a failure by an economic collapse that he had nothing to do with.

It is as the founder of the Democratic Party and as Jackson's right hand that Van Buren made his most important contributions to history. Democrats generally prefer to assign this role to the more revered Jefferson, but the parties of his era were such loose and unorganized groupings that they were more factions than real political parties. True national parties, with national conventions and permanent structures date to the era of Jackson, and probably nobody had more to do with creating them than Van Buren.

Also included here are other major events of Jackson's presidency, such as the "war of the Petticoats" and the nullification crisis. It was these controversies that led Jackson to break with John Calhoun, naming Van Buren as his Vice President and natural successor.

Widmer has worked in the White House as a speechwriter for Clinton, and refers to that experience and the Clinton presidency several times. Some reviewers thought that a distraction from the proper subject of the book; I thought it added contemporary interest and showed a continuity of politics across very different eras.

On the whole this book is interesting, readable and informative. It recounts a substantial amount of history in a concise package.

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reviews: page 1, 2

The first president born after America's independence ushers in a new era of no-holds-barred democracy

The first "professional politician" to become president, the slick and dandyish Martin Van Buren was to all appearances the opposite of his predecessor, the rugged general and Democratic champion Andrew Jackson. Van Buren, a native Dutch speaker, was America's first ethnic president as well as the first New Yorker to hold the office, at a time when Manhattan was bursting with new arrivals. A sharp and adroit political operator, he established himself as a powerhouse in New York, becoming a U.S. senator, secretary of state, and vice president under Jackson, whose election he managed. His ascendancy to the Oval Office was virtually a foregone conclusion.

Once he had the reins of power, however, Van Buren found the road quite a bit rougher. His attempts to find a middle ground on the most pressing issues of his day-such as the growing regional conflict over slavery-eroded his effectiveness. But it was his inability to prevent the great banking panic of 1837, and the ensuing depression, that all but ensured his fall from grace and made him the third president to be denied a second term. His many years of outfoxing his opponents finally caught up with him.

Ted Widmer, a veteran of the Clinton White House, vividly brings to life the chaos and contention that plagued Van Buren's presidency-and ultimately offered an early lesson in the power of democracy.

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