Gail Collins: "William Henry Harrison"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-01-23/gail-collins-william-henry-harrison
William Henry Harrison was the ninth American president. A war hero and master negotiator with Indian tribes, Harrison added 50 million acres to the fledgling United States. After retiring from the military, Harrison began a career in government to provide for his large family. His 1840 campaign for president featured catchy slogans and mass rallies, and cast the upper-class Virginian as a humble “log cabin” farmer. The spin worked: Harrison won in a landslide but then died of pneumonia after just one month in office. New York Times columnist Gail Collins on the shortest presidency in American history.
Guests
Gail Collins
Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times and bestselling author of, "When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present"
Program Highlights
William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia just one month after taking office, so he's mostly known for what he did not do. He never appointed a federal judge, and his wife never made it to the White House. But author and New York Times columnist Gail Collins says his Tippecanoe and Tyler Too campaign set the standard for modern presidential contests. In a new book titled "William Henry Harrison," Gail Collins tells the story of the ninth president's remarkable life and untimely death.
Harrison Was "Rather Wealthy"
Harrison was from Cincinnati, which is also Collins' hometown. There, stories about Harrison centered on his supposedly humble beginnings and his life as a soldier. But Collins said the facts about Harrison's life reveal that he was actually rather wealthy. His father had signed the Declaration of Independence, and the family lived in a big house - which Collins found out her own father had helped to tear down for the city. "So I kind of owe William Henry Harrison some little thing, I guess," Collins said.
Harrison's Early Career
Harrison's parents encouraged him to study medicine, but after his father's death, he quit to join the army. At the time, the army didn't have much prestige, and conditions were harsh. The Revolutionary War was over, and fighting Indians wasn't considered to be as "manly and heroic" as fighting Englishmen had been. Morale was low and alcohol abuse was high amongst soldiers. But his experience fighting the Indians prepared him for his future job as the governor of Indiana, where he became an expert at writing treaties with small tribes of Indians that he then applied to all Indians within a certain territory.
Harrison's Presidency
When Harrison became president, he was 68 years old, which was very old for a new president at the time. He gave long speeches and went out often. His inaugural address was two hours long, and, Collins said, very boring. It was a rainy, cold day in March, and Harrison caught a bad cold. His doctors made things much worse - bleeding him, blistering him, and giving him strange medicine. His wife, who was settling things up at home, never even got to Washington before he died.
Harrison's Presidential Campaign Set Stage For Modern Campaign
One of Harrison's most important objectives during the campaign was for him to sell himself as a "common man" - not a rich guy from Virginia. It reminds Collins of Mitt Romney's objective in this year's campaign. "Although, to be honest, William Henry was much better at being one of the guys than Mitt Romney is," Collins said.
You can read the full transcript here.
Comments
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"master negotiator with Indian tribes..."
Since when did US government relations with Indian tribes in the 19th century involve "negotiation"?
Big fan of Gail Collins. What a treat to have you and Diane together!
Gail Collins's Harrison biography skillfully explains the issues of relations with native Americans, slavery, seeking and dispensing patronage, and providing for a large extended family and manages to tell the story concisely and in entertaining prose. I enjoyed reading it and learned much from it, but it left me with several questions.
As a popular introduction to Harrison, the book succeeds in every way, but it sometimes makes intriguing references without providing explanatory details. Page sixty-four explains that after his time in the Ohio state legislature from 1819-21 Harrison "tried several times to be elected to higher office, and suffered a series of embarrassing loses, including one failed bid for governor and two for Congress." Page twelve relates that after leaving Hampden-Sydney Harrison had "a brief stay at another school," but doesn't name it.
What were Harrison's other failed electoral attempts besides his seeking the governorship and his two attempts again to be elected to Congress, and why did he fail to get elected? What was the school he briefly attended?
Clearly, this brief life of Harrison need not provide all the details an in-depth account would, but the electoral failures could be explained in a paragraph or two and an explanation of his second school in a brief phrase. Were there strict limits imposed on Ms. Collins on the length of the manuscript and the amount of detail she could relate?
Hollis Summers
As a child growing up in Charleston, SC, I know the mind of native South Carolinians to some extent. They identified with the word 'appalled', because the people of the Tidewater, the Mayflower contingent, identify with being 'appalled' that anyone would suggest that they are racist, as they are 'so proper.' Newt slipped into their frozen-in-time zeitgeist of being 'so proper' that the gloves come off and the slap of the gloves on the cheek of the 'offender' is always 'appropriate' when someone has 'crossed the line' in their social circles. They are so defensive of being accused of racism, a racism that is apparent to everyone else, even apartheid in its application politically and socially, that in their mind 'it can't be true.' It is like parents that can't see what they are doing to their children. If you try to point it out, you are thrown out the door as being 'deaf, dumb, and blind' to their style of 'loving their children.' The love of their 'uniqueness' of South Carolinians is just such a dissociation. Newt can easily play the roll, can be offended, and cast aspersions on the outsiders - the press (of the devil) , and others who they have allowed in the state as temporary guests 'on approval' during the primary. Newt will get their votes as he is 'one of us', although of the Papal inclination.
His imperiousness is justified in their pewterness.
I do wish Ms. Colilins actually knew something about mid-19th century American politics! She is focusing only on the "theatrics" of politics instead of the issues. In mentioning Harrison's speeches, she can only say that she can't understand how the audience heard. Well, they didn't have to hear - the complete text of the speeches was published in the contemporary newspapers, and his speeches were substantive in the promises he made -- like never vetoing a bill.
But wait a minute -- Ms. Collins is a reporter today. Now we know why current poliitical reporting is all about -- ugh, "optics' [sic] and not about substance. Why didn't she report on the substance of Harrison's speeches instead?
I wish we could go back to the old days of political newspapers, which reported by printing the complete text of speeches (from both sides!) and allowed readers to think and judge for themselves.
Among my mother's many great-grandchildren, there is a William, Henry, and a Harrison. She was so tickled that she made sure we got a picture of them together at a family reunion.
For Mrs Collins, an interesting approach to a book on Tecumseh would be that in Canada, he is viewed as a freedom fighter and patriot who fled the United States and helped defend Canada against the Americans, and then to contrast that against his historical image in American history.
Additionally, the name of the river that gave it's name to the battle Tecumseh died in, "Thames," is pronounced the same way as the river in England, "temz"
How wonderful to have my 2 most favorite media people on NPR together and thanks for the further explanation about the dog.
Interesting interview with Ms. Collins. One correction: she spoke of "Chief Tecumseh" . . . but Tecumseh was never a chief. See Allan Eckert's definitive work on Tecumseh's life, A Sorrow in Our Heart. A remarkable man in the extreme, Tecumseh was the leader of a band of primarily Shawnee warriors who sought to form an Indian confederation to fight the White Tribe, but he was never a chief. A huge percentage of comments on his life call him a chief, but the authors have not done their historical research well. Any living Shawnee will substantiate the fact that he was a warrior-leader, but never designated a chief.