Current:Home > InvestThe rise and fall of President Martin Van Buren-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
The rise and fall of President Martin Van Buren
View Date:2025-01-13 06:02:28
In New York's Hudson Valley, in the village of Kinderhook, sits a lovely estate called Lindenwald, once home to Martin Van Buren. And if you don't know who that is, you're in good company!
Van Buren was our eighth president, and the first to be born an American citizen, which is more than guide Zach Anderson knew when he applied for a job here: "I had to kind of admit to my boss over the phone that I was only 85% certain that he was even a president. So, it was not my proudest shining moment!"
Ranger Zach has since become an expert on the man nicknamed "Old Kinderhook." "He is the only president who spoke Dutch as his first language," said Anderson. "One of only two presidents to never serve in the military or attend college; the other would be Grover Cleveland."
And he's tied for being the second-shortest American president. "He stands at 5'6" with Monroe, and then Madison takes the crown for being shortest, at 5'4"," Anderson said.
But in the facial hair department, Van Buren is second to no one, with some of the wildest facial hair to ever grace the White House. At Lindenwald, they call them not "mutton chops" but "Martin chops" – sideburns that truly defied gravity.
"They are remarkable," said historian Ted Widmer. "They stretch out. If he couldn't claim vertical space, he's claiming some horizontal space."
Widmer wrote a biography of Martin Van Buren: "I was attracted to the idea of trying to make an obscure president a little bit less obscure. I think I succeeded in that very small goal. I don't think I made him famous. In fact, it's fifteen years since I wrote the book, and you were the first people to have found me."
(That's what "Sunday Morning" is here for!)
Van Buren did enjoy a brief moment in the pop culture spotlight, on "Seinfeld," when Kramer took on a street gang named the Van Buren Boys, who even had a secret sign [eight fingers for the eighth president].
But, Widmer said, in office, Van Buren was more than a punchline. "Van Buren deserves credit for inventing our two-party system, which is nowhere in the founding documents," he said. "In fact, the founders, most of them, said it would be a terrible thing if we had parties. And Van Buren comes along and says, no, these are a positive good. When one party gets too powerful, it's good to have the other party start to rise up again."
Although he may have seemed to the manor born, Van Buren was actually the son of a tavern keeper. A striver, he rose quickly through the ranks: senator, secretary of state, and then vice president to the original populist president, Andrew Jackson.
But their personalities, and their images, could not be more different. Widmer said, "Van Buren is short and sort of stout; Jackson is tall and emaciated, kind of a Clint Eastwood sort of tough guy. Van Buren is much more of a politician, and he knows everybody in Washington in a way that Andrew Jackson does not. So, Van Buren was better at going out and talking over politics and getting the Jacksonian program through Congress, which is a part of being a successful president."
So, why is Van Buren considered such a mediocre president? Well, you might say it was the economy, stupid. Just weeks after taking the oath of office, the Panic of 1837 set in – a financial crisis that triggered a six-year depression. "It's incredible how fast he fell, given how high he had climbed up," Widmer said.
It was during his administration that Van Buren purchased his lavish (for the time) home, with one of the very first, and certainly most attractive, presidential flush toilets. "To have indoor plumbing was almost kind of unheard of," said Anderson.
A hand-painted toilet bowl, at that.
"It's a little over the top," said Anderson. "It did not sit well with the American public. And that probably was the nail in the coffin for his failed reelection attempt come 1840."
After which, Martin Van Buren returned home to entertain and hold court in his capacious dining room, which still has the original wallpaper on the walls.
[FYI, if you want your home to look like Martin Van Buren's, this wallpaper, "Paysage à Chasses," is still available from Zuber, the manufacturer.]
Van Buren would run for the White House two more times, both times unsuccessfully. He'd travel extensively in Europe, write his autobiography, and enjoy farming, fishing, and his family. In 1862, at age 79, Van Buren died, by most accounts content.
Widmer said, "I thought he made a good point, which is that you can have a dismal presidency and a successful life."
For more info:
- Martin Van Buren's Lindenwald, Kinderhook, N.Y. (National Park Service)
- "Martin Van Buren" by Ted Widmer, from "The American Presidents Series" (Times Books), in Hardcover and eBook formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Story produced by Mary Lou Teel. Editor: Ed Givnish.
More presidential history from Mo Rocca:
- Franklin Pierce: America's handsomest president?
- Mo Rocca with lively thoughts about our deceased presidents
- Time will tell: Historians on judging presidential leadership
- The Herbert Hoover you didn't know
- First families: A reunion of presidential relatives
- Painting the presidents
- Andrew Johnson: The unfortunate president
- Chester A. Arthur and the original "birther" controversy
- Worst president ever: The ignominy of James Buchanan
- The long and short of President William Henry Harrison
- James Polk and America's "Forgotten War" south of the border
- President John Tyler's great genes
- How doctors killed President James Garfield
- President Warren Harding: Sex, scandal and death in the White House
- Ulysses S. Grant's last battle
- The passions of Woodrow Wilson
- Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady and humanitarian
- Lady Bird Johnson, first lady and diarist
veryGood! (21817)
Related
- Investigation into Chinese hacking reveals ‘broad and significant’ spying effort, FBI says
- Russia bombards Ukraine with cyberattacks, but the impact appears limited
- 11 Women-Owned Home Brands to Cozy Up With During Women’s History Month (And Beyond)
- FBI says it 'hacked the hackers' to shut down major ransomware group
- Bev Priestman fired as Canada women’s soccer coach after review of Olympic drone scandal
- Every Bombshell Moment of Netflix's Waco: American Apocalypse
- A Thai court sentences an activist to 28 years for online posts about the monarchy
- Hackers steal sensitive law enforcement data in a breach of the U.S. Marshals Service
- California teen pleads guilty in Florida to making hundreds of ‘swatting’ calls across the US
- A tiny but dangerous radioactive capsule is found in Western Australia
Ranking
- Advocacy group sues Tennessee over racial requirements for medical boards
- Citing security concerns, Canada bans TikTok on government devices
- A Japanese company has fired a rocket carrying a lunar rover to the moon
- Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia can't come soon enough for civilians dodging Putin's bombs
- Today's Craig Melvin Replacing Hoda Kotb: Everything to Know About the Beloved Anchor
- How facial recognition allowed the Chinese government to target minority groups
- A tiny but dangerous radioactive capsule is found in Western Australia
- Hayden Panettiere Would Be Jennifer Coolidge's Anything in Order to Join The White Lotus
Recommendation
-
Olivia Munn Randomly Drug Tests John Mulaney After Mini-Intervention
-
NPR's most anticipated video games of 2023
-
Hayden Panettiere Would Be Jennifer Coolidge's Anything in Order to Join The White Lotus
-
A new AI-powered TikTok filter is sparking concern
-
How to Build Your Target Fall Capsule Wardrobe: Budget-Friendly Must-Haves for Effortless Style
-
Transcript: Rep. Tony Gonzales on Face the Nation, May 14, 2023
-
The Real Reason Teresa Giudice Didn't Invite Melissa Gorga's Family to Her Wedding
-
How Saturday Night Live's Chloe Fineman Became Friends with Anna Delvey IRL