He was only 12 years old when his father took him to France during the American Revolution, and he subsequently traveled to Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and England. His true calling was as a diplomat and statesman. But it was what John Quincy Adams did BEFORE and AFTER his presidency that really mattered. He lacked the support of Congress and of the American people, and he was soundly defeated four years later by Jackson. He subsequently appointed Clay Secretary of State, and the whole affair came to be known as the "Corrupt Bargain." (There is a song about this in the 2010 Broadway musical "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.")Īs a president, John Quincy Adams did not amount to much. After John Quincy Adams met with Henry Clay, Clay threw his support to Quincy Adams, who became the sixth president. Andrew Jackson won the popular vote, but none of the candidates had a majority of the electoral votes, thus tossing the election to the House of Representatives to decide. In the presidential election of 1824 it was a four-way contest. It's hard to imagine our country becoming great without the lifelong service offered by John Quincy Adams. Having just read several other much longer biographies of his predecessors, I did notice a few spots where the author glossed over things or inadequately explained stuff, but what the book lacked in long-winded scholarship it more than made up for in heart. As presidential biographies go, I found this book by Harlow Giles Unger to be well written and quite a page-turner.
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