Not So Good Presidential History

The Jay treaty caused France to almost go to war with us. I guess you can imagine how that country felt after all the help it had given us in the revolutionary war. France was not a big fan of Washington or the United States after that. They began to stop American ships which were going to trade with the English. By then John Adams was the president and he sent delegations to negotiate with the French, but they would have none of it. The French stated before they would negotiate they wanted us to give them money. What many also do not know is the fact we went to war with the French for a few months, but it wasn’t a declared war. It is hard to understand why at least both the English and French didn’t receive favored nation status and why the English got it at all at the time. I guess it may have been because they were the most powerful nation at the time.

Millard Fillmore had a problem, one which it seems no other president before or after ever had and it was the fact his entire cabinet resigned rather than serve under him. It all came about with the Compromise of 1850 and had to do with slavery. The Compromise allowed slavery in a new state, which was Texas. Can you imagine this happening today, that is an entire cabinet quitting? Fillmore had become extremely unpopular in the North. Fillmore had only served one term form 1850-1853, but he had managed to offend his party. He was the last president to be elected from the Whig Party. He had been the vice president under Zachary Taylor and when Taylor died he became president.

Many in American hated Franklin Pierce because he was a politician with expansionist views at the expense of other countries and was not beyond starting a war with countries whose land he wanted. An example of that was his idea to force Spain into a war with America so they would give up Cuba by either letting us buy it or lose it in a war with us. He wanted to make Cuba a state and allow slavery in it. He would say he wanted to liberate it from oppression. He made a big mistake by drafting war legislation, because Spain had refused to sell by that time and when the legislation was introduced in congress it caused an outcry by the American people and he had to back down. Pierce served as president from 1853-1857. Strangely he was a northerner who was against abolition.

After Lincoln was murdered his vice president became president. He was Andrew Johnson. He served from 1865-1869 and it was not an administration without problems. He pushed to restore the seceded states to the Union, but without the protections promised the former slaves. He became so hated by congress they held impeachment proceedings. The senate acquitted him but by only one vote. Many of the original southern representatives returned to congress, but the Republicans refused to seat them. The representatives tried to pass Black Codes to deprive former slaves of civil liberties. Bills were put forth to override the Black Codes but Johnson vetoed them. The Republicans overrode the vetoes.

One president caught in a sexual scandal was Grover Cleveland. It was particularly hurting to Cleveland because he ran on a morals platform. When he was a lawyer in Buffalo he fathered a baby out of wedlock. He was not only the 22nd president but also the 24th. Cleveland was said to be a good president and the scandal hurt him and turned public sentiment against until he admitted to what he did and then he became respected for his honesty in not trying to cover it up. Cleveland thought his job was to keep congress honest and to this point he used twice as many vetoes as all the presidents combined who came before him.

Richard Nixon served from 1969-1974. He became the only president to resign from office. He didn’t have much of a choice. One good thing Nixon did was ending the Vietnam War and bringing back most of the prisoners of war. He also ended the draft. He was famous for his diplomatic relations and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. He had a failing however because he got involved in the Watergate scandal. He was involved with those who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters and he and his administration tried to hide the fact unsuccessfully. He had to retire or face impeachment.

Bill Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States. Clinton had a long history which was unknown to most voters of affairs. He defeated George H. W. Bush and was elected in 1992. He managed to stay in office for two terms even though impeachment proceedings were brought against him for perjury and obstruction of justice. This came about because a woman named Paula Jones had brought a sexual harassment lawsuit against him. He was acquitted of the charges by the senate. Two other impeachment charges, another perjury charge and an abuse of power charge failed in the house. He had also been involved in a sex scandal involving a young White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. All those who heard him uttering the words he didn’t have sexual relations with her will probably remember that statement.