Latest news with #JohnQuincyAdams
New York Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
We can learn a lot from our presidents — even the ones you don't like
Commanding personalities As summer approaches, don't forget your history. Here's a presidential lesson or two. John Quincy Adams — despite his great last name — was fierce, haughty, unforgiving. Also cold, austere. Swam naked every morning in the Potomac. Nice. Would make Putin look like a Hallmark valentine. Cuddly Andrew Jackson. 'Old Hickory' resolved differences with fists and a sword. Think Nancy Pelosi in long drawers. Advertisement Martin Van Buren. Smooth talker, perfumed dandy, loved making speeches. 1837 William Henry Harrison about whom even Mrs. Harrison couldn't remember. James Polk. Democrat. In his early days, palled around with Francis Scott Key, 'The Star-Spangled Banner' author. Wherever they are now they're toasting Taylor Swift. Advertisement 1841, VP John Tyler suddenly becomes president. Mild-mannered. Constituents fretted he's incapable of running the country. During his tenure 618 banks closed. One term only. He has since reappeared in the persona of Hunter Biden's daddy. Zachary Taylor. Helped establish the Panama Canal which now we're trying to schlep back from Panama. Millard Fillmore. Nothing about him that worked except that he finally got out of office. I mean where are you going with the name Millard? Advertisement James Buchanan. His book was titled 'Mr. Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of Rebellion.' Only dogs pored over it. Abraham Lincoln. Nine thousand movies made about him. Now the subject of the about-to-win-a-Tony 'Oh, Mary!' Everybody's played him but Dolly Parton. Andrew Johnson had a tailor shop. So did my grandfather. Johnson became president. My grampa not. Ulysses S. Grant's political knowledge — small. Booze intake — LARGE. Had he exhaled the Rockies would've been pebbles. Advertisement James Garfield. Republican. July '81 shot by a crazed disappointed office-seeker. Chester Arthur. Told, 'drop the nomination as you would a red-hot shoe from the forge.' His run for the nomination halfhearted. Grover Cleveland. Ran amok. Fathered an illegitimate child. Opposition slogan was: 'Ma, ma, where's my pa?' William McKinley. Shot in the abdomen by an anarchist in Buffalo. Theodore Roosevelt. Republican. Larger-than-life leader who faced obstacles head-on. Said was: 'He's not an American. He is America.' 1909-1913 the 27th president was William Howard Taft. Republican. He called the White House 'the loneliest place in the world.' Advertisement Be it known that Abraham Lincoln once said: 'A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me.' Yeah? Well, somewhere he should see B'way's 'Oh, Mary!' get its Tony. Only in America, kids, only in America.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Did President Trump study at Harvard? US Presidents who were Harvard-educated
The campus crackdown has started. The US Federal government has declared a ban on international students at Harvard University. On Thursday, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students, marking a significant consequence for the institution due to its refusal to comply with certain policy demands from the administration. The US Department of Homeland Security released a statement indicating that Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students, and existing foreign students must either transfer or risk losing their legal status. What happened? Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem directed her department to terminate Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, citing the university's refusal to provide conduct records for foreign students as requested by the DHS in the previous month. The White House emphasized that 'enrolling foreign students is a privilege, not a right,' accusing Harvard's leadership of transforming the university into a center of what it described as anti-American and anti-Semitic sentiment. The Harvard impact: Over the years, Harvard University has significantly contributed to the US socio-economic politics. Its influence is seen through its alumni in government, research, and public policy, as well as its academic departments and centers focused on these areas. While the biggest names in the world of technology and innovations, like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, are amongst the brightest stars of the prestigious university, there are several politicians as well (precisely, eight US Presidents), who are Harvard alumni and have shaped the United States of America. The US Presidents who were Harvard passouts: Eight US Presidents, so far, have graduated from Harvard University: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama . Bush earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, Hayes and Obama from Harvard Law School, and the others from Harvard College. John Adams (2nd President) John Adams was one of Harvard's earliest graduates, earning his degree in 1755. He went on to become a leading figure in the American Revolution and the second President of the United States. Degree: Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) Graduation Year: 1755 John Quincy Adams (6th President) The son of John Adams, John Quincy Adams graduated from Harvard in 1787. He later served as the sixth President and was noted for his diplomatic achievements. Degree: Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) Graduation Year: 1787 Rutherford B. Hayes (19th President) Hayes graduated from Harvard Law School in 1845. He served as the 19th President and was known for his efforts to reconcile the divisions left by the Civil War. Degree: Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) Graduation Year: 1845 Theodore Roosevelt (26th President) Roosevelt was a dynamic figure in American politics, known for his progressive policies and leadership during the early 20th century. Degree: Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) Graduation Year: 1880 Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd President) Franklin D. Roosevelt, a distant cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, graduated from Harvard in 1903. He served four terms as President, leading the nation through the Great Depression and World War II. Degree: Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) Graduation Year: 1903 John F. Kennedy (35th President) Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1940. His presidency was marked by Cold War tensions, civil rights advancements, and the space race. Degree: Bachelor of Arts in Government Graduation Year: 1940 George W. Bush (43rd President) George W. Bush earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1975, making him the only U.S. President to hold an MBA. He served two terms as President, overseeing the response to the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. Degree: Master of Business Administration (MBA) Graduation Year: 1975 Barack Obama (44th President) Obama graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991. He was the first African American President, serving two terms and focusing on healthcare reform and economic recovery. Degree: Juris Doctor (J.D.) Graduation Year: 1991 Did Donald Trump go to Harvard? No, the current President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, did not attend Harvard University. After completing high school, he enrolled at Fordham University in New York City in 1964. In 1966, he transferred to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1968. Trump Blasts Biden-Era Kennedy Center Facilities, Asks- Where Were The Funds Used?
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - Why we need a John Adams memorial in DC
For some people, becoming president of the United States marks the apex of their ambition. However, it is not always the high point of their careers in public service. Perhaps the clearest examples of distinguished public careers taking a back seat to a mixed legacy as president are those of John and John Quincy Adams. Although John Adams has been the subject of several recent admiring biographies, including one that was transformed into an HBO miniseries, more recently he served as nothing more than a punchline in Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'Hamilton: A Musical.' Even Aaron Burr and King George III fared better. Yet Adams was a revolutionary long before Hamilton arrived in Manhattan, using his own legal skills as well as his propensity for writing to advance what evolved from an assertion of colonists' rights to a call for independence. Without Adams, 1776 might just have been another year in America's chronology. As we approach the bicentennial of the elder Adams's passing (during his son's presidency), it is time to recognize the Adams' achievements and service to the nation they did so much to create and establish. The Great American Heroes Act was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to extend the work of the John Adams Memorial Commission to establish a fitting memorial and to select a location near the White House. As a diplomat Adams may have lacked the color of a Benjamin Franklin or the flair of a Thomas Jefferson, but his successes, especially in securing financial support, proved critical to winning the Revolution and representing the new republic. Contemporaries understood that when he (and not Jefferson, Madison, or Hamilton) was elected vice president, he was surpassed only by George Washington. Adams endured the thankless task of finding out just how anonymous that office might be before having to follow Washington in office as president, a rather daunting task. Yet at a time when Adams could finally have enjoyed the unalloyed popularity, he had so long craved, his decision to seek a diplomatic resolution of an undeclared war with France proved pivotal in damaging his chances at reelection. 'I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy,' Adams once wrote his wife Abigail. Yet his eldest son, John Quincy Adams, followed in his father's footsteps, serving the young republic as a diplomat and a member of Congress, and was part of the American delegation that negotiated a settlement with Great Britain that ended the War of 1812. Quincy Adams was rewarded less than two years later with the position of Secretary of State under James Monroe. Quincy Adams's eight years of service in that position were momentous ones, whether it was establishing his nation's claim to the Pacific Coast, reconciling disagreements and establishing borders with Great Britain and Spain, securing Florida, or in advancing the principles that ultimately became known as the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. The next year Quincy Adams ran for president: His ultimate victory proved controversial, fostering immediate efforts to obstruct his presidency. Four years later, like his father, he lost reelection; like his father, he failed to attend his successor's inauguration. However, John Quincy Adams, unlike his father, enjoyed a second act in public life. Elected to Congress as a representative from Massachusetts in 1830, he became known as a staunch antislavery advocate who highlighted white southerners' willingness to flaunt constitutional safeguards to advance the cause of slavery. Like his father, who had undertaken the formidable task of defending those British soldiers indicted for murder in the aftermath of the Boston Massacre in 1770, Adams undertook to defend before the Supreme Court the enslaved Africans who had taken over the Spanish slave ship Amistad in a bloody effort to seize their freedom. He prevailed. Some say that behind every great man is a woman. In the cases of John and John Quincy Adams, that woman was Abigail (Smith) Adams, who has perhaps fared better than has either her husband or eldest son in Americans' historical memory. 'Remember the ladies,' she admonished her husband in 1776 as he endeavored to establish the basis for American independence. Educated by her mother and grandmother, she became a voracious reader, which served her well when she conversed with her husband on various public matters in war and peace. Her correspondence with John remains an importance source for understanding the period. Americans have not always appreciated the contributions of these three people to the founding and expansion of the American republic. An effort to raise a memorial to their contributions (as well as those of other family members) has encountered challenges over time, despite Congressional authorization. Neither John nor John Quincy Adams would be surprised: they were always suspicious of the tenuous nature of public acclaim even as they hoped to receive it. Brooks D. Simpson is ASU Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University. He writes and speaks on American political and military history, especially during the era of the American Civil War and Reconstruction, as well as the American presidency. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
21-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Why we need a John Adams memorial in DC
For some people, becoming president of the United States marks the apex of their ambition. However, it is not always the high point of their careers in public service. Perhaps the clearest examples of distinguished public careers taking a back seat to a mixed legacy as president are those of John and John Quincy Adams. Although John Adams has been the subject of several recent admiring biographies, including one that was transformed into an HBO miniseries, more recently he served as nothing more than a punchline in Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'Hamilton: A Musical.' Even Aaron Burr and King George III fared better. Yet Adams was a revolutionary long before Hamilton arrived in Manhattan, using his own legal skills as well as his propensity for writing to advance what evolved from an assertion of colonists' rights to a call for independence. Without Adams, 1776 might just have been another year in America's chronology. As we approach the bicentennial of the elder Adams's passing (during his son's presidency), it is time to recognize the Adams' achievements and service to the nation they did so much to create and establish. The Great American Heroes Act was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to extend the work of the John Adams Memorial Commission to establish a fitting memorial and to select a location near the White House. As a diplomat Adams may have lacked the color of a Benjamin Franklin or the flair of a Thomas Jefferson, but his successes, especially in securing financial support, proved critical to winning the Revolution and representing the new republic. Contemporaries understood that when he (and not Jefferson, Madison, or Hamilton) was elected vice president, he was surpassed only by George Washington. Adams endured the thankless task of finding out just how anonymous that office might be before having to follow Washington in office as president, a rather daunting task. Yet at a time when Adams could finally have enjoyed the unalloyed popularity, he had so long craved, his decision to seek a diplomatic resolution of an undeclared war with France proved pivotal in damaging his chances at reelection. 'I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy,' Adams once wrote his wife Abigail. Yet his eldest son, John Quincy Adams, followed in his father's footsteps, serving the young republic as a diplomat and a member of Congress, and was part of the American delegation that negotiated a settlement with Great Britain that ended the War of 1812. Quincy Adams was rewarded less than two years later with the position of Secretary of State under James Monroe. Quincy Adams's eight years of service in that position were momentous ones, whether it was establishing his nation's claim to the Pacific Coast, reconciling disagreements and establishing borders with Great Britain and Spain, securing Florida, or in advancing the principles that ultimately became known as the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. The next year Quincy Adams ran for president: His ultimate victory proved controversial, fostering immediate efforts to obstruct his presidency. Four years later, like his father, he lost reelection; like his father, he failed to attend his successor's inauguration. However, John Quincy Adams, unlike his father, enjoyed a second act in public life. Elected to Congress as a representative from Massachusetts in 1830, he became known as a staunch antislavery advocate who highlighted white southerners' willingness to flaunt constitutional safeguards to advance the cause of slavery. Like his father, who had undertaken the formidable task of defending those British soldiers indicted for murder in the aftermath of the Boston Massacre in 1770, Adams undertook to defend before the Supreme Court the enslaved Africans who had taken over the Spanish slave ship Amistad in a bloody effort to seize their freedom. He prevailed. Some say that behind every great man is a woman. In the cases of John and John Quincy Adams, that woman was Abigail (Smith) Adams, who has perhaps fared better than has either her husband or eldest son in Americans' historical memory. 'Remember the ladies,' she admonished her husband in 1776 as he endeavored to establish the basis for American independence. Educated by her mother and grandmother, she became a voracious reader, which served her well when she conversed with her husband on various public matters in war and peace. Her correspondence with John remains an importance source for understanding the period. Americans have not always appreciated the contributions of these three people to the founding and expansion of the American republic. An effort to raise a memorial to their contributions (as well as those of other family members) has encountered challenges over time, despite Congressional authorization. Neither John nor John Quincy Adams would be surprised: they were always suspicious of the tenuous nature of public acclaim even as they hoped to receive it. Brooks D. Simpson is ASU Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University. He writes and speaks on American political and military history, especially during the era of the American Civil War and Reconstruction, as well as the American presidency.
USA Today
20-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
How the White House Easter Egg Roll was rescued and became an American tradition
How the White House Easter Egg Roll was rescued and became an American tradition | Opinion In every bloom, every Easter celebration, and every open gate, the White House grounds and spring traditions offer a living connection to American history. Show Caption Hide Caption Easter traditions: How it's celebrated around the world Did you know that Easter isn't always just celebrated with chocolate? Easter is marked very differently around the globe. unbranded - Lifestyle Each spring, the White House grounds bloom not just with flowers and tree blossoms but also with the legacy of those who shaped them – and with opportunities to step into living history. From the earliest days of the republic to the present, White House spring traditions, like the grounds themselves, have been shaped by the vision of presidents and first ladies, renowned landscape architects and generations of dedicated gardeners. Throughout the 1800s, the Executive Mansion's grounds were largely an extension of the presidential family's household operations. In a nation still dominated by family farms, the early White House lawns looked a lot like many other household yards, with laundry hanging, dairy cows and sheep grazing, and food growing to supply the kitchen. Presidents gradually began using the White House's outdoor spaces for more public ceremonies and gatherings. Today, the grounds surrounding 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have become as iconic as the rooms and furnishings inside, especially at the moment when winter gives way to warmer weather. How the White House grounds were created President Thomas Jefferson was the first to devise a landscaping plan for the White House grounds. He envisioned a sweeping lawn with tree-lined promenades, though his plan was only partially implemented. Two decades later, in the 1820s, President John Quincy Adams, an avid horticulturist, spent a considerable amount of time with White House gardener John Ousley, learning and setting the stage for the lush gardens we know today. For decades, a conservatory and a series of glass-roofed structures next to the White House provided space to grow domestic and exotic plants, including orchids, ferns, grapes, geraniums, roses and camellias. In 1902, the structures were demolished as part of the Theodore Roosevelt renovation – a major change in the use of the grounds, including designating the side for the presidential workspace we know today – the West Wing. Opinion: Where past and present coexist ‒ White House furniture is America's living history The most significant transformation came in the 1930s when Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., whose father helped design New York's Central Park, to create a more unified and formal plan for the executive grounds. The National Park Service continues to use the Olmsted plan as the basis for its maintenance of the grounds, with first families also adding their touches. First lady "Lady Bird" Johnson created the Children's Garden, a small but charming space tucked away south of the West Wing. It features a whimsical collection of engraved stepping stones with the handprints and footprints of presidential grandchildren. White House Garden Tours have become popular First lady Pat Nixon launched the now-traditional and very popular spring and fall garden tours in 1972. (The most recent open house was held earlier this month; autumn tours are generally in October.) To both stock the White House kitchen as well as promote healthy eating and locally grown produce, first lady Michelle Obama started the White House Kitchen Garden in 2009, showcasing heirloom vegetables, herbs and seasonal crops, with a nod to the grounds' earliest uses. Even the trees at the White House have stories to tell. Many on the grounds are marked with plaques indicating the presidents who planted them – silent sentinels of past administrations. Opinion: Meet the people who run the White House. Their legacy extends across elections. Some of the greenery and color around the White House and the nation's capital owe a debt to first lady Helen Taft, who had admired the beauty of cherry blossoms while traveling in Japan. In April 1909, the U.S. government purchased 90 trees, and Tokyo's mayor and city council sent 2,000 more as a gift. The original donated trees did not survive the journey. A second gift of more than 3,000 cherry trees arrived in 1912 by ocean freighter in Seattle and was transported across the USA in heated, insulated rail cars. The first lady and the wife of the Japanese ambassador planted the first two cherry trees along the northern bank of the Tidal Basin in late March, where the trees still stand today. The pink and white petals beckon an estimated 1.6 million tourists to the capital in just a few weeks every year in a cavalcade of spring-break school groups and tour buses. Tradition of the White House Easter Egg Roll For many, another springtime White House tradition is the big draw: the White House Easter Egg Roll, the origins of which trace back to the 1870s when families brought children to roll eggs on the U.S. Capitol grounds. After Congress restricted public use of those grounds, President Rutherford Hayes stepped in to rescue what had become a very popular event. On Easter Monday, 1878, he opened the White House South Lawn to children for egg rolling, inaugurating a tradition that is celebrated today with storytelling, music, holiday mascots, crafts, and with both real and souvenir wooden eggs. Presidents and first families often join in, at times offering welcoming remarks from the South Portico with an Easter Bunny by their side. To make some of the White House rites of spring more accessible to anyone who cannot attend in person or who simply wants to learn more, the White House Historical Association, in recent years, added a virtual White House springtime scavenger hunt. The 360-degree online tour and interactive game features fun facts about the history of the White House, its springtime traditions and the people who have lived in the Executive Mansion. As the National Park Service's former director of White House Liaison, Jim McDaniel, told me on a 1600 Sessions podcast, 'The White House is such an important icon for Americans. To be able to come close to it, to go up to the fence, to see it, to go through the grounds on an Easter egg roll or garden tours gives them a touchstone for their government and their democracy.' In every bloom, every Easter celebration, and every open gate, the White House grounds and spring traditions offer a living connection to American history. Stewart D. McLaurin is president of the White House Historical Association, a private nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961, and is director of The People's House: A White House Experience multimedia educational center and museum.
